Tour Colombia. Harold Tejada brings first win on Stage Two
In the sprint from a breakaway group, who made it to the finish line in Santa Rosa de Viterbo, Harold Tejada took a nice win on Stage Two of the Tour Colombia.
The Colombian rider brought the very first victory to Astana Qazaqstan Team in the 2024 season.
A group of 17 riders broke away clear on the second half of the distance, taking a good advantage of two minutes and a half. Harold Tejada was among the escapers, doing a very smart and tactical race. On the final climb of the day as well as inside the last few kilometers Tejada was able to answer to all the attacks of the rivals and in the final sprint the Astana Qazaqstan rider took a well-deserved victory.
“Finally, I got it! I can’t believe as I was waiting for it for so long. In the last few seasons I was feeling like I am progressing and in 2023 the results, finally, arrived. And now I won. I am so happy with the win and with the way I spent this day. Actually, we had a bit different plan for the stage, but when I saw a big group breaking away, I followed it just to secure team’s presence in this dangerous move. We got a very good group in the break and in the end of the day we could build a nice advantage, something like two minutes and a half, enough to play the stage. After so many kilometers spent in different breakaways, I knew I had to save as much energy as possible for the most decisive moments. It worked out and I still had some power in the legs for the final kilometers and for the sprint. We spent some good weeks here in Colombia together with my team, we worked really hard during the training camp and now I am feeling like the form is growing up. Our main goal was to try to win a stage in this race, maybe with Mark Cavendish in the sprint. But today I was able to do it. And now together with the team we are looking forward to the next stages here at the Tour Colombia”, – said Harold Tejada.
“I am really happy for Harold, it is a very nice victory for him but also for the whole team. It was important for him to win here in Colombia, but also for us this success means a lot as this is our first victory in 2024. Harold knew the final climb as we trained here five or six times. When we saw him joining that big breakaway group, we told him to stay calm, to save as much energy as possible and to make the climb on his own rhythm. He did it perfectly and in the end he was able to make a fantastic sprint to win the stage. We are also happy with Harold Martín López and Alexey Lutsenko, who finished in the main group without any problem. Well, four days to go and we will just keep on going”, – said Vasilis Anastopoulos, Head of Performance of Astana Qazaqstan Team.
After Stage Two Harold Tejada moved into the lead in the General Classification.
Photo credit: @SprintCycling