Santiago Montenegro, from Sucumbi, added the second partial victory for national riders in the 40th edition of the Cycling Tour of Ecuador by winning the fifth stage of the test, held this Friday between Cotacachi and the Middle City of the World.
Montenegro added his victory to that of Richard Huera, a fellow countryman and teammate in the Movistar-Best PC, a squad that he also won with the Colombian Marco Tulio Suesca in the third stage.
The champion of the 2020 edition managed to recover from the exhausting climb to Culebrillas to take a short advantage and take the victory with a time of 4 hours 12 minutes 34 seconds, followed by Byron Guamá (+16).
Third at the finish line, 27 seconds behind, was Jorge Montenegro (Banco Guayaquil-Ecuador), completing the second tricolor podium in this edition. With the Carchense, his leader Robinson Chalapud entered the wheel, who managed to maintain the overall lead that he obtained from the second fraction.
Day of tough battle between the favorites, with the continental teams looking to position their riders ahead. Movistar-Best PC put together the escape and had Richard Huera with Marco Suesca in the lead, along with Mauricio Irua (C&S Technology) who went for the mountain prize in Cochas, the first of the three strong climbs of the stage.
Huera led the break in Cochas and got closer in the mountain classification to the leader Robinson Chalapud who worked with the bankers to defend the red seeded jersey and the yellow jersey of the general classification.
The coffee grower arrived escorted by David Caicedo to break into the group of technology players, who, led by Huera, added Suesca and the Venezuelan Carlos Galviz to move the race forward.
Change of protagonists in the descent, in a “kill or be killed” the techs stretched the group this time with Joel Fuertes and Juan Alba, but Alejandro Pita (Saitel) was first in the sprint in Cayambe.
The second and last flying goal of the day was for Suesca, reconnected to the group of escapees, before beginning the ascent to Tocachi, halfway through the day’s route, a section for Suesca, which added to the next two flying goals.
With the group reduced, the ascent through Culebrillas finished selecting the peloton, with technology and banking in an open fight to stay ahead.
The strongest in the ascent to Tanlahua was Montenegro, who led the distribution of points that left Chalapud as champion of the mountain in the current edition of the test. The final stretch was dominated by the technological team, who with Montenegro at the finish line added their third partial victory.
Chalapud now has 15 hours 01 minutes 20 seconds in the five stages run, making him the virtual champion of the Vuelta, in the absence of the circuit this Saturday in the Ciudad Mitad del Mundo. Second is his teammate Montenegro and third is Santiago Montenegro, from the telephone squad.
The categories changed leaders, with banker Nixon Rosero as the new sub-23 leader and with Suesca as the best sprinter, who must confirm the green jersey on Saturday’s circuit, which will include 10 laps in San Antonio de Pichincha to complete 116.1 kilometers and also crown the champion of the event, which if there were no new developments would have the Colombian Chalapud as two-time champion.
Source: http://www.eluniverso.com