Tour Colombia: Two stage wins and Top-10 in the General Classification after productive training camp
The Tour Colombia 2024 ended yesterday with another spectacular and explosive Stage 6, where two Astana Qazaqstan Team riders, Harold Tejada and Harold Martín López finished inside the Top-10 (5th and 6th places, respectively). This result allowed Tejada to take sixth place in the final General Classification of the race.
Spending three weeks at the training camp earlier in January and February, Astana Qazaqstan Team ended this edition of the Tour Colombia with 2 stage wins (Harold Tejada – Stage 2, Mark Cavendish – Stage 4), one stage podium (Mark Cavendish – Stage 1), 5 stage Top-10 (Harold Martín López – Stages 2,6, Cees Bol – Stage 4, Harold Tejada – Stages 5,6) and the final Top-10 in the General Classification (Harold Tejada – 6th place).
“We can only be happy with the outcome of the training camp and the race. We have spent four weeks in Colombia, first in Medellin and then in Paipa. I am really happy with the attitude of all riders who participated in this camp, including Yevgeniy Fedorov and Santiago Umba, who left Colombia earlier to take part in the European races. Logistically it was not easy at all but together with our Sports Director Mario Manzoni and all the staff we were able to build a nice program both for the sprinters and climbers, and our work went quite perfectly. We did a very nice race even if competing on 2000 meters above the sea level was not easy at all for the European guys. We got two stage wins with Harold Tejada and Mark Cavendish and also Harold took a good sixth place in the General Classification. I think that after these four weeks in Colombia all the guys are ready to start their season in Europe. I believe we did the right decision to bring our team here for the training camp and after a huge amount of job which has been done here we are looking forward to perform well in the following races”, – explained Vasilis Anastopoulos, Head of Performance of Astana Qazaqstan Team.
“We had a great time here in Colombia, both during the training camp and the race. I am so happy with such a good start of the season for me but also for the team. This year the level of Tour Colombia was so high, and it was so nice that our team was able to fight in every single stage here, to get two wins and to fight for the General Classification. I am proud with my team and with the way I started my fifth season with Astana Qazaqstan Team. I want to thank all the guys for their help and support during the race and also our directors and all the staff for three weeks of the training camp. Indeed, we did a lot of work there and now it is time to come to Europe and to continue pushing hard in every race. For me, personally, it was a very good time spent here in my country, I was happy to race again in Colombia and also to take my first win as a professional rider. I hope our team will come back to Tour Colombia next year as it was something special”, – said Harold Tejada.
Photo credit: @pipecano_photo