Colombian back to winning ways at individual TT in Peru
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Dani Martinez (Colombia) took gold at the men's individual time trial at the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru(Image credit: Comité Olímpico Colombiano)
Colombian time trial champion Daniel Martinez (EF Education First)(Image credit: Getty Images)
Dani Martinez (EF Education First) rode to second on the opening stage at Pais Vasco(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Daniel Martínez (EF Education First) celebrates after beating Miguel Ángel López (Astana) to the line(Image credit: Getty Images)
Daniel Martinez (EF Education First)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Colombia's Dani Martínez returned to competition for the first time in three months in emphatic fashion, winning the men's individual time trial at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru.
Martínez's last race had been the Tour de Romandie, which finished in early May, and in June he was training at home in Colombia in preparation for the Tour when his wheels slipped on a descent, causing him to break his his left thumb and the scaphoid on his right wrist.
"I have about two months of recovery in front of me," Martínez, who rides for US WorldTour team EF Education First, said at the time. "My hands hurt a lot, and I can't do anything without help. I'm very sad to miss the Tour de France. I've trained a lot for it, but this is just the way cycling is."
In Wednesday's time trial, Martínez proved that he had fully recovered by beating Brazil's Magno Nazaret by almost two minutes over the 37km course. Chile's Jose Luis Rodriguez took home the bronze medal.
"It was a beautiful time trial," the reigning Colombian national time trial champion said on the EF Education First website.
"I feel in good form, the weather has been good, it wasn't so cold today, and there was far less wind today than there was yesterday.
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"It's an honour to win here, as everyone who's here racing wants to win, and we're racing with some of the best riders from the Americas. Let's see what happens going forward," said Martínez.
The Colombian's next race will be next week's Tour of Utah, with the Vuelta a Espana, which starts just under a week later, a possible substitute for having missed the Tour de France.
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