Duarte out-paces Sevilla for stage 5 win

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Fabio Duarte redeemed himself after a disappointing first day in the mountains on Wednesday, beating out race leader Óscar Sevilla in a photo finish sprint to take Thursday's stage 5 in the colonial town of Socorro.

"Yesterday was a hard day for me," Duarte said. "But today I felt really good."

After a challenging day that took the Vuelta a Colombia over this year's first category one climb, the Alto Chiflas, a select but sizeable group of 32 riders barreled into Socorro where Duarte reassured Colombian cycling fans why he is their chosen son when he edged past Sevilla on the line.

"I'm pretty happy with today's results, but have to thank my team and the support of my sponsors and my family," Duarte said.

For his efforts on the day, Sevilla retained the tri-color leader's jersey and gained time on second place Dalivier Ospina of Colombia es Pasión, who finished two seconds back in 17th place and is now eight seconds back in the general classification.

GW Shimano's Félix Cárdenas, Nectar de Cundinamarca's Diego Calderon and Indeportes Antioquia's Sergio Luis Henao rounded out the stage's top five respectively, crossing the finish one second behind Duarte and Sevilla

The stage started under sunny skies in Bucaramanga as the peloton passed by the Luis Carlos Galán plaza, dedicated to the Colombian politician killed by Pablo Escobar's drug cartel, before heading out to the open roads.

Nectar de Cundinamarca's Alvaro Gómez broke away from the peloton early and through some strong riding was able to net himself the top spot in the day's first two sprints as well as the first mountain of the day, the category three Alto Curos.

Gómez was able to hold off the field for much of the distance between the first and second climbs as the race passed through a rocky canyon next to the Chicamoca River. However, on the approach to the Alto Chiflas, Gomez was brought back along with another group attempting to break free.

With paragliders floating overhead, Carlos Betancourt of Indeportes Antioquia tried to control the field for his captain Sevilla, but the attacks kept coming. For much of the time up the mountain, Loteria de Boyacá's Jonathan Camargo held the field at bay, but his escape was in vain when the leading group overtook him close to the summit.

GW Shimano's captain, Félix "El Gato" Cárdenas, then attempted to break free, but after Camargo's move the boys in the lead group were having none of it. Cárdenas, however, had a good day as he crossed the top of the Alto Chiflas first and was third on the day's final climb, the category three Alto Aratoca.

"We worked really well today, both in the group and with our team, to control the attacks of Cárdenas," Sevilla said.

The group that would comprise the day's winners stayed together for the rest of stage, with the slight attack of four riders that included the King of the Mountains leader, Jaime Vegara, being quickly brought back. The tight, curvy roads leading into Socorro kept the pack together and allowed for the duel between Duarte and Sevilla.

Sevilla looks to be coming into form during this year's Vuelta a Colombia. The Spanish rider, who recently won Colombia's Vuelta a Antioquia, has been riding with some real gusto and has put time on his main competitors in 2008 Vuelta a Colombia winner Giovanni Baez, 14th place and one minute 53 seconds back, and 2009 Vuelta winner Jose Rujano, 4 minutes 51 seconds back in 26th place.

"The most important thing is to manage the stress and try to not feel the pressure," Sevilla said after the stage.

Friday's 165 km stage from Socorro to Tunja keeps up the climbing and will be the most challenging stage for the peloton so far, as the race goes over three categorized climbs including the category one Alto del Sote, only 15 km before the finish.

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