Tour Colombia (st. 2)

Hodeg (DQT) takes over GC leader after winning first bunch sprint in Colombia; all six Blues into main field, with Nairo, Anacona, Carapaz and Soler now 46" off race lead.

Colombian youngster Álvaro Hodeg (DQT) took the day’s win and the leader’s jersey at the end of the first of three predictable sprint finishes in the 2019 Tour Colombia. Stage two, 150km out and back from La Ceja with five laps of a circuit in east Antioquia, saw a six-man breakaway led by Óscar Sevilla (MDE) almost taking the better from the peloton, eventually caught with 5k left.

The Movistar Team always took care of its leaders near the chase by Deceuninck, UAE and Rigoberto Urán’s EF Education First, which conceded its orange jersey due to Hodeg’s bonus at the finish. Bonifications could indeed play a starring role on both Thursday -167km and four laps around Llanogrande and the Alto Nano (Cat-3)- and Friday, before the mountains in the weekend. Nairo Quintana, Winner Anacona, Marc Soler and Richard Carapaz stay 46″ off the lead after completing the stage safely and inside the bunch.

REACTION / Nairo Quintana:

“We felt quite well today, mainly because of the joy of riding on home roads with all these crowds, but it was a very dangerous day. A really stressful ride, with lots of roundabouts, spending the whole stage near the front and focused – we even had some troubles with the public, almost crashing against some spectators. I’d ask the people who comes to watch us to keep some precautions and stay to the side of the road, because we bunch are riding so fast and an accident hurts us both. All in all, we’re safe, we’re OK, and we hope to continue this way through Friday, so we can tackle the mountains on Saturday and Sunday in a good state. Our rivals still hold a serious gap and will surely try and take on a commanding role, especially Egan and Sky -they’re strong, they’ve been training here for weeks, they know all routes-, yet our Movistar Team has come well prepared for the mountains and they’ll find us there, battling for a good result.”

Cover picture (c): Dario Belingheri / BettiniPhoto.net