Sergio Higuita wins Tour Colombia 2.1

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Daniel Martinez won the sixth and final stage of the Tour Colombia 2.1 on Sunday in a thrilling finale that saw his EF Pro Cycling teammates dominate the final climb to El Once on the Alto del Verjón. 

Martinez sprinted for the summit victory ahead of overall winner Sergio Higuita, while third place went to Egan Bernal (Team Ineos). Miguel Eduardo Florez (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) was fourth and Jonathan Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling) fifth.

"It's been such an awesome week, the way the race has unfolded, and the way the team has worked relentlessly for us has been phenomenal," said Martinez in a team press release after his stage victory.

"I can't thank Rigo [Uran], Tejay [van Garderen] and Lawson [Craddock] enough. What an amazing way to start the season, and it makes it all the more special that it's in my home country," he said.

Higuita won the overall classification after leading the race since his stage 4 victory in  Santa Rosa de Viterbo. EF Pro Cycling, the team that won the opening team time trial, swept the final overall podium with Martinez in second, seven seconds back, and Caicedo in third, 33 seconds back.

"Last year I was riding for another team in Europe [Fundación Euskadi], but I was dreaming that I would one day race in front of my home country," said Higuita. "Last year it was only a dream to one day win this race. It's an incredible feeling to cap off all the hard work the team did this week."

How it unfolded

The final day at Tour Colombia 2.1 would decide the overall winner after a week of racing above 2,500 metres of elevation. The race shifted from the relatively rural areas around Paipa and Duitama to the urban core of Bogota, where the stage finished atop Alto del Verjón at 3,290 metres.

The 182.6km stage started in Zipaquirá and took a circuitous route to the summit finish just outside Colombia’s sprawling, high-altitude capital city of 7.4 million people.

The final stage featured three intermediate sprints at 42.8km, 77km and finally at 146.6km. Mountains classification points were on offer at Alto del Sisga, a category 3 climb at 60.8km, again at Alt del Sisga at 88.8km, at Alto Patios at 156.2km, and finally at the finish on Alto del Verjón.

A large breakaway of 14 riders escaped at kilometre 28. In the move were Álvaro Hodeg (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), Etienne Van Empel (Vini Zabu-KTM), Umberto Marengo (Vini Zabu-KTM), Lars Saugstad (Uno X), Colin Joyce (Rally Cycling), Félix Barón (Team Illuminate), Maris Bogdanuvics (Amore & Vita), Fabio Duarte (Team Medellín), Bayron Guamá (Ecuador), Juan Pablo Suárez (EPM Scott) and three riders from Orgullo Paisa: Johan Colón, Edison Muñoz and Sebastián Castaño. 

Colón collected maximum points and the three-second time bonus at the first sprint, winning ahead of Guamá and Jorgenson as their gap shot up to 3:30.

The KOM at 60.8km saw mountains leader Duarte add to his lead, taking the win ahead of Muñoz and Jorgenson. Guamá won the second sprint at 77km ahead of Duarte and Saugstad as the 14 leaders’ advantage hovered at 3:10.

Duarte continued to consolidate his lead in the mountains classification by taking the second KOM at 88.8km as well. 

Van Empel was the first to pop out of the breakaway at 130km when the leaders’ gap was down to just 2:45. But the 13 remaining riders continued to power toward the finish.

Ten kilometres later, the gap was down to two minutes as EF Pro Cycling drove the pace in the peloton.  Having secured his mountains jersey, Duarte eased off, and Barón took the third KOM at 146.6km ahead of Muñoz and Suárez. 

That was the nearly the end of the day for the escapees, however, who were back in the fold at 150km. Robinson Chaplaud (Team Medellin) took the final KOM before the finish at 156.2km, and the path to Alto del Verjón was cleared for the general classification battle.

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