51st Vuelta Colombia - 2.5

Colombia, June 17 - July 2, 2001

Stage 5 - June 22: Pereira - Chinchiná ITT, 29.1 km

Zapata wins, but can't dislodge Perez

By Daniel Lopez

Javier Zapata won the fifth stage of the Vuelta a Colombia-Telecom by a small margin of one second over the leader Marlon Alirio Perez. The first part of the Vuelta has finished today in Chinchina. Tomorrow the high mountains will appear with five stages in succession that will include the mythical climbs to Alto de Minas, Alto del Escobero, Alto de Letras (3600 meters) and Manizales.

Marlon has increased his advantage over the rest of the riders and tomorrow see one of his dreams come true - wearing the tricolor jersey in Medellin.

Javier Zapata, called "El milagroso" 05 0Rbitel won the stage with a time of 0:38:13 for the 29.1 kilometres, with an average speed of 45.686 km/h. The stage was very exciting because Marlon Perez was leading it until the last section, but on the final run in he lost by one second.

"I made a mistake in the last kilometers because I thought that the route was only downhill and I took the wrong strategy," he commented.

The diferences between the climbers are close, but now the question is "What is going to happen with Marlon?"

Stage description

The fifth stage of the Vuelta a Colombia is an Individual Time Trial between Pereira and Chinchiná. The stage is about 29 kilometers. It has a second category climb the "Alto del Boquerón" 10 kilometers from the start and then the route is downhill and flat. The favorites for winning the stage are Jairo Hernández, Javier Zapata, Duban Ramírez, Raul Montaña and Alvaro Sierra. The leader Marlon Pérez is the "incognite" of the stage because he is not a climber and the Alto del Boqueron can affect his performance. The diferences will be close. Today we can´t know who is going to win the Vuelta, but we can know who is not going to win it.

Results

1 Javier Zapata (Col) O5 Orbitel                            38.13
2 Marlon Perez (Col) 05 Orbitel                              0.01
3 Libardo Niño (Col) Lotería de Boyacá                       0.06
4 Ismael Sarmiento (Col) Lotería de Boyacá                   0.43
5 Raul Montaña (Col) Aguardiente Nectar                      0.45
6 Jairo Hernández (Col) 05 Orbitel                           0.51
7 Israel Ochoa (Col) Lotería de Boyacá                       0.52
8 Carlos Contreras (Col) Selle Italia - Baterías MAC         0.56
9 Luis Orán Castañeda (Col) 05 Orbitel                       0.57
10 Elder Herrera (Col) 05 Orbitel                            0.59
11 Dubán Ramírez (Col) Empresas Públicas de Medellín         1.09
12 Héctor Iván Palacios (Col) Empresas Públicas de Medellin  1.10
13 Hernán Buenahora (Col) Selle Italia - Baterías MAC        1.19
14 Hernán Darío Bonilla (Col) 05 Orbitel                     1.20
15 Héctor Manuel Castaño (Col) Empresas Públicas de Medellin 1.24
16 Noel Vasquez (ven) (Ven) Lotería del Táchira              1.50
17 Miguel Sanabria (Col) 05 Orbitel                          1.52
18 Alvaro Sierra (Col) Lotería de Boyacá                     1.54
19 Uberlino Mesa (Col) Lotería de Boyacá                     1.59
20 Alexis Rojas (Col) Aguardiente Nectar                     2.01
21 Alvaro Lozano (Col) Selle Italia - Baterías MAC           2.02
22 Argiro Zapata  (Col) Empresas Públicas de Medellín        2.06
23 Johny Leal (Col) 05 Orbitel                               2.13
24 Julio Bernal (Col) Selle Italia - Baterías MAC            2.16
25 Ubaldo Mesa (Col) Lotería de Boyacá                       2.20
26 Cesar Salazar (Ven) (Ven) Lotería del Táchira             2.21
27 Angel Yesid Camargo (Col) Lotería de Boyacá               2.21
28 Alejandro Ivan Cortes (Col) Aguardiente Cristal           2.28
29 Graciano Fonseca (Col) Lotería de Boyacá                  2.29
30 Jair Bernal (Col)                                         2.38
31 José Chacón (Ven) (Ven) Lotería del Táchira               2.48
32 Over Yesid Ramirez (Col) Indeportes Antioquia             2.48
33 Julio César Rangel (Col) Aguardiente Cristal              2.52
34 Luis Espinoza (Ven) Triple Gordo - Trujillo               2.58
35 Alexis Méndez (Ven) (Ven) Lotería del Táchira             3.05

General classification after stage 5

1 Marlon Pérez (Col) 05 Orbitel              10.26.19
2 Javier Zapata (Col) 05 Orbitel                 0.36
3 Libardo Niño (Col) Lotería de Boyacá           1.05
4 Ismael Sarmiento (Col) Lotería de Boyacá       1.29
5 Israel Ochoa (Col) Lotería de Boyacá           1.40
6 Julio César Aguirre (Col) 05 Orbitel           1.48
7 Elder Herrera (Col) 05 Orbitel                 1.49
8 Juan Diego Ramírez (Col) 05 Orbitel            1.56
9 Luis Orán Castañeda (Col) 05 Orbitel           1.59
10 Raul Montaña (Col) Aguardiente Néctar         2.07