From the moment he mounted his bicycle, the stopwatch seemed to announce a winner. This relationship between Colombian Walter Vargas and the fastest and most solitary race in road cycling (the individual time trial) dates back to 2016 when he won the Pan American title in this event for the first time. Ten years later, he repeated the feat for the seventh time in his hometown of Montería, Córdoba, Colombia.
This March 19th, Vargas followed his usual routine, only this time accompanied by his wife and some family members, his motivation was on the rise. The warm-up was rigorous and precise. He knew the course by heart, although the danger of facing a headwind when turning on one part of the route worried him.
However, once he started, his mind was solely focused on victory, and his pedaling reached an average speed of 52.25 km/h, securing his fourth consecutive title and eighth medal overall, adding to his silver medal from 2022, when his teammate Rodrigo Contreras took the gold.
Vargas solidified his position as the fastest solo time trialist in the Americas and also qualified for the World Championships in Canada in September. His final time of 48 minutes, 56 seconds, and 03 seconds over the 43.1-kilometer course allowed him to outpace Mexican Eder Frayre (49:50:41) and Uruguayan Antonio Fagundez (50:08:11), who finished second and third, respectively.
“Racing in Colombia is different. We have the fans, and I had a lot of my family here. You can feel the pressure of being the favorite. Coming from a race with six medals and being at home puts a huge responsibility on you. And it’s quite rewarding to be able to live up to that expectation,” the Team Medellín-EPM rider told COPACI.
“For me, the most important event of the year is this Pan American Games because it’s the one that gives me a spot in the World Championships. I’ll be there again with my usual goal: to be among the best in the world, something very difficult given the level of competition in this event,” said the rider from Team Medellín-EPM, who achieved his best World Championship result in 2025, finishing in 14th place.
“The time trial is a huge effort requiring intense concentration because it’s just you against the kilometers and against everything that goes through your mind: the pain, the fatigue, whether your cadence has dropped, whether you’re riding at the pace you want… and so on. Being a calm, patient person is something that works in my favor. I think that should be a virtue of time trial specialists,” he noted.
“To win today, according to the predictions, I had to do everything right in the second half, because I was going to face a lot of headwind after the turn. I knew I would win on the return leg, but when I turned, I didn’t feel that wind and I gave it my all until the finish line,” Vargas concluded.
Vargas’s other Pan American Road Cycling Championship titles were in 2016 in Venezuela (49:19); 2018 in Argentina (57:51); 2021 in the Dominican Republic (48:45); 2023 in Panama (47:57); 2024 in Brazil (42:44); and 2025 in Uruguay (46:48).
Campeonato Panamericano de Ruta – CRI
Resultados Contrarreloj » Montería (43,1 km)
| 1 | Walter Vargas | Colombia | 48:56 |
| 2 | Eder Frayre | Mexico | 0:54 |
| 3 | Eric Antonio Fagúndez | Uruguay | 1:12 |
| 4 | Diego De Jesús Mendes | Brasil | 1:14 |
| 5 | Héctor Quintana | Chile | 1:27 |
| 6 | Rodrigo Contreras | Colombia | 2:13 |
| 7 | Nicholas Narraway | Bermuda | 2:27 |
| 8 | Edgar David Cadena | México | 2:57 |
| 9 | Kaden Hopkins | Bermuda | 3:02 |
| 10 | Joseph Gerardo Ramírez | Costa Rica | 3:30 |
| 11 | Gabriel Metzger | Brasil | 4:05 |
| 12 | Francisco Peñuela | Venezuela | 4:27 |
| 13 | Cory Williams | Belice | 4:28 |
| 14 | Donovan Ramírez | Costa Rica | 5:24 |
| 15 | Bolívar Espinosa | Panamá | 5:58 |