40th Clásico RCN - 2.4

Colombia, August 11-20, 2000

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Stage 5 - August 16: Palmira-Pereira, 182 km

Giovanni Torres aces victory in breakaway group

By Haroldo Camacho

Less than halfway through the race, at the kilometre 70 sprint prime won by Cuban Pedro Pérez, a group of seven broke away from the peloton. Increasing their lead at one time to almost six minutes, the escapees rolled into Pereira in a futile chase of 24 yr. old Giovanni Torres who soloed away 3 kms from the finish line to give him the stage victory in only his 2nd Clásico RCN.

Torres' time was 4:23:18. Eleven seconds behind was Cuban Pedro Pérez, who came in second, leading Jorge Humberto Martínez and Raúl Gómez. Jhon Freddy García (winner of the last two stages) led the main peloton with overall leader Julio César Aguirre crossing the finish line 3 mins 41 secs later. "Cuba", site of the finish line and locally a suburb of Armenia, lined the streets en masse to welcome the group of which Pedro Pérez, from the island "Cuba" came in second, a "welcome" coincidence.

Tomorrow's stage challenges the riders with its climb up to La Línea may shake up the general classification. For today, notwithstanding the break away group, the overall leaders remained in place.

Results

1 Giovanny Torres  (Col) Lotería de Boyacá 		     4.23.02 (41.51 km/h)
2 Pedro Pérez (Cub) Cubana de Aviación 				0.08
3 Jorge Martínez (Col) Ag. Antioqueño Lotería de Medellín
4 Raúl Gómez (Col) Aguardiente Cristal Chec
5 Graciano Fonseca (Col) Mixto Kazachstan
6 Juan Carlos Fonseca (Col) Aguardiente Néctar Café Aguila Roja	0.15
7 Jorge Flórez (Col) Mixto Antioquia				0.30
8 Jhon Freddy García (Col) Aguardiente Cristal Chec		3.40
9 Diego Marín (Col) Mixto Antioquia				3.41
10 Elder Herrera (Col) 05-Orbitel				3.41

General classification after stage 5:

1 Julio César Aguirre (Col) 05-Orbitel	     		    23.52.34
2 Israel Ochoa (Col) Aguardiente Néctar Café Aguila Roja	0.12
3 Alvaro Lozano (Col) Aguardiente Cristal Chec			0.14
4 Héctor Manuel Castaño  (Col) 05-Orbitel			0.32
5 Juan Diego Ramírez (Col) 05-Orbitel				0.33
6 Alvaro Sierra (Col) Lotería de Boyacá 			0.41
7 Libardo Niño (Col) Aguardiente Néctar Café Aguila Roja	1.00
8 Javier Zapata (Col) 05-Orbitel				1.06
9 Raúl Montaña  (Col) Aguardiente Néctar Café Aguila Roja	1.10
10 Héctor Iván Palacio (Col) 05-Orbitel				1.25