Henao wins Vuelta a Colombia

The sun was shining Sunday in the city of the eternal spring as Sergio Luis Henao hoisted the winner's trophy of the 2010 Vuelta a Colombia over his head, after stage 14's time trial through the streets of Medellín.

Family and friends surrounded Henao, the local favorite, after he won his first Vuelta a Colombia in an impressive fashion, beating second place and Indeportes Antioquia teammate Óscar Sevilla by 1:49 on general classification. Loteria de Boyacá's Jose Rujano finished third, 3:02 back on Henao.

"I've trained very hard for this and hopefully I have a big future in cycling," Henao said.

Not one of the pre-race favorites, Henao claimed the tri-color leader's jersey after stage one's team time trial and again on stage nine when then-race leader Sevilla fell on the day's final climb.

The 23-year-old Henao proved his win was no fluke by taking two stages, including stage 10 that passed over the famed La Linea climb, and fending off attack after attack from his rival Rujano.

The Venezuelan Rujano, who won last year's Vuelta a Colombia, tried time and again to shake Henao in the mountains but had little success. For his efforts Rujano did come away with top spot in the King of the Mountains competition.

"First I'd like to congratulate Sergio Luis and his team," Rujano said. "I tried to fight but I have a big rival in him. I gave it my best effort this year, but Sergio Luis is a great rider."

Going into the Vuelta's final stage, a 34km time trial, Henao's victory was more or less guaranteed, as he sat over three minutes ahead of both Rujano and teammate Sevilla. However at the start of the day only 37 seconds separated second place from fifth place, so the other two podium spots were up for grabs.

As rider's hit the flat course, Colombia es Pasión's premier sprinter Juan Pablo Forero took an early lead in the stage but GW Shimano's Marlon Pérez quickly changed that.

The 34-year-old former U-19 points race World Champion rolled through Medellín's streets and crossed the finish line near the city's Giradot Sports Complex with a time of 42:59.

Pérez's time held as rider after rider crossed the line, with EPM-UNE's Juan Pablo Suarez coming the closest to Pérez at 20 seconds back.

However with the top five positions in the GC so hotly contested, it was almost assured that these riders would be firing on all cylinders and they did not disappoint. The main battle that people were watching was the duel for second place between Sevilla and Rujano, who at the day's start were separated by only nine seconds.

The battle turned out to be very one-sided as Sevilla tore through the course, finishing the stage in 41:56, 1:03 faster then second place Pérez. Rujano did not ride poorly as he finished third on the day and only one second behind Pérez, but Sevilla rode like a man possessed and seemed impossible to beat.

"I'm very happy to win this stage, but I'm more happy for Sergio Luis," Sevilla said. "He's a young, great talent."

Henao was the last rider to leave the start house and even with his cushy lead he didn't rest on his laurels, as he finished the stage with a fist pump and tied for fourth place, 1:23 seconds behind Sevilla.

Henao resumed the Colombian domination in their home tour, after Rujano last year became only the third foreigner to win one of the hardest races in the cycling calendar. His is also only the seventh rider from Colombia's cycling-rich Antioquia department to win the Vuelta a Colombia.

He dedicated the win to his father, who said that he knew his son would be a cyclist when he was in the womb.

"I'm going to give the trophy to my father because he was that one that trained me to be a cyclist," Henao said.