The 59th edition of the Tour of Táchira will be held between January 14 and 21, with the participation of riders from Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain and Mexico and a route that includes a large part of the geography of the border with Colombia, arriving at Cúcuta, capital of Norte de Santander and the tourist city of Mérida in the Venezuelan Andes.
The current champion is the Venezuelan José Alarcón, who will defend the title of this traditional cycling event belonging to the UCI 2.2 calendar, which inaugurates the UCI calendar of America and promises a strong fight for the yellow jersey.
Among the favorites for the title stand out Alarcón himself (Team Fundación Ángeles Hernández Cycling), his teammate Roniel Campos, the Colombians Diego Andrés Camargo (Forte Petrolike – Androni Giocatolli) and Alejandro Osorio (GW Erco Shimano) and the Ecuadorian Jonathan Caicedo (Forte Petrolike – Androni Giocatolli).
The “Grande de América” begins with the metropolitan circuit between the cities of San Cristóbal and Táriba in the first stage. The queen stage of the return will be the seventh, which will have a varied terrain, in addition to being the one that will touch the territory of Norte de Santander. This fraction will start in the Pedro María Ureña municipality, go to Cúcuta and then will be taking ascending terrain to finish at the mythical arrival at the Monument to Christ the King of Capacho, it will be an exciting journey from start to finish.
The stage that lowers the curtain of the 59th edition of the Giro Andino will be the one that takes place in the traditional “Santos Rafael Bermúdez” circuit that traditionally takes place on España and 19 de Abril avenues with the finish at the J.J Mora Figueroa Velodrome in New town.
‘El Condor’ José Rujano heads the honor roll of the Giro Andino with four titles (2004, 2005, 2010 and 2015), Roniel Campos has three (2020, 2021 and 2022) along with Manuel Medina (2006, 2008 and 2011) and the Colombians Martín Cochise Rodríguez (1966, 1968, 1971) and Álvaro Pachón (1969, 1970 and 1974).
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico