Vuelta Postobon-Itagui

Colombia, March 6-11, 1997

  • Stage 1
  • Stage 2
  • Stage 3
  • Stage 4
  • Stage 5

    Stage 1

    Javier Zapata of Aguardiente Antioqueno continued his teams long list of triumphs on the season, dropping his escape group in the last kilometer and sprinting to a 3 second win over Elder Herrera of Telecom-Capitel- Kelme. Zapata had joined a small escape group which broke lose of the main peloton with 27K to go.

    Earlier, the day had been enlivened by a lone escape by Hernan "El Gavilan" Hernan Osorio which lasted over 60K and gave him the sprint and KOM points lead. Finishing third on the day was Diego Garavito, a young rider without a team who paid his own way to the dance.

    Today the riders face a dual stage day, first a 27K ITT which includes a 2nd Category climb and then a 107K road race stage.

    Stage 1:

     1. Javier Zapata, Aguardiente Antioqueno-Loteria de Medellin        3.45.47
 2. Elder Herrera, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme 				0.03 
 3. Diego Garavito, Bicicletas Granci-Oriente Antioqueno		0.06
 4. Marcos Hurtado, Aguardiente Antioqueno 				0.10
 5. German Ospina, Aguardiente Antioqueno 				0.11

    Overall:

     1. Javier Zapata 	     3.45.47
 2. Elder Herrera		0.07
 3. Diego Garavito 		0.10
 4. Marcos Hurtado 		0.20
 5. German Ospina 		0.21
 
Stage and Overall time differences are due to stage place time bonuses.

 Teams: Aguardiente Antioqueno
 Espoire: Oved Yesid Ramirez, Ron Medellin Lotin Indeportes
 KOM: Hernan Alonso Osorio, Gobernacion de Antioquia-Idea
 Sprints Hernan Alonso Osorio

    Stage 2 Report

    The dominance of the Aguardiente Antioqueno team of the early Colombian season continued when it took both stages of the 10th Vuelta Nacional Postobon-Ciudad de Itagui. In the first stage, a 27K ITT, victory went to Vuelta a Cundinamarca subchamp, German Ospina who took a convincing win over teammates Javier and Argiro Zapata. With ITT specialist Duban Ramirez taking the week off and with Cundinamarca ITT phenom Santiago Botero racing and winning the prologue of the Vuelta a Chile, the competition was considerably less stiff.

    Stage 2:

     1. German Ospina, Aguardiente Antioqueno, 45m29s
 2. Javier Zapata, Aguardiente Antioqueno, at 37s
 3. Argiro Zapata, Aguardiente Antioqueno, at 1m23s
 4. Juan Diego Ramirez, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme, at 1m36s

    Stage 3 Report

    In the third stage, a 108K road race between Llanos de Cuiva and the city of Itagui, the victory went to Leonardo Cardona who pipped espoire sensation Marlon Perez of the Ciudad de Medellin team. For Raul Mesa's premiere Telecom-Capitel-Kelme team, the week to date has been quite disappointing.

    Stage 3:

     1. Leonardo Cardona, Aguardiente Antioqueno, 2h18m35s
 2. Marlon Perez, Ciudad de Medellin, at st
 3. Javier Zapata, Aguardiente Antioqueno
 4. Carlos Alberto Contreras, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme, at 1s

    Overall:

     1. German Ospina, Aguardiente Antioqueno	     6.50.07
 2. Javier Zapata, Aguardiente Antioqueno		0.09
 3. Elder Herrera, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme		1.17
 4. Argiro Zapata, Aguardiente Antioqueno		1.27
 5. Juan Diego Ramirez, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme		1.36
 6. Hector Ivan Palacio, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme		1.50
 7. Julio Cesar Aguirre, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme		2.03
 8. Marcos Hurtado, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme		2.25
 9. Olmedo Capacho, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme 		2.35

Teams: Aguardiente Antioqueno
Sprints: Hernan Alonso Osorio, Aguardiente Antioqueno
KOM: Hernan Alonso Osorio, Aguardiente Antioqueno
Espoire: Marlon Perez, Ciudad de Medellin

    Stage 4 Vuelta Postobon-Itagui

    For the fourth consecutive time, the stage victory went to the "paisas" from Antioquia Aguardiente, this time in the figure of Hector Manuel Castano. Earlier in the stage, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme's Jose Castelblanco jumped from the peloton, determined to end the drought of Raul Mesa's team in the Vuelta. Marked by A.A.'s Hector Manuel Castano, the two pulled away and the escape was on. With 1 kilometer to go, and after considerable jockeying for position, Castano took off opening a large lead over the tired Castelblanco. From behind, the race leader, German Ospina, jumped out of the pack and nearly caught Castelblanco at the line while opening up a 7 second advantage over the peloton which finished en masse. With the 4 second stage position bonus and the 7 second advantage over the peloton, Ospina was able to solidly increase his lead over his most immediate pursuers with but two stages to go.

    Stage 4:

     1. Hector Manuel Castano, Aguardiente Antioquia     3.21.56
 2. Jose Castelblanco, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme 		0.11
 3. German Ospina, Aguardiente Antioqueno		0.12
 4. Javier Zapata, Aguardiente Antioqueno		0.19
 5. Carlos Contreras, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme		s.t.

    Overall:

     1. German Ospina, Aguardiente Antioquen    10.12.11
 2. Javier Zapata, Aguardiente Antioqueno	0.20
 3. Elder Herrera, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme	1.28
 4. Argio Zapata, Aguardiente Antioqueno	1.38
 5. Juan Diego Ramirez, Telecom-Capitel-Kelme 	1.47

Teams: Aguardiente Antioqueno
Sprint: Hernan Alonso Osorio, Aguardiente Antioqueno
KOM: Hernan Alonso Osorio, Aguardiente Antioqueno
Espoire: Oved Yesid Ramirez, ron Medellin-Lotin-Indeportes