Dani Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Diana Peñuela (DNA Pro Cycling) won elite time trial races at the Colombian National Championships on Thursday. It was a dazzling debut for Martínez at his new Bora team, who reclaimed the ITT national title for a fourth time, last winning in 2022. It was a third title for Peñuela in the race against the clock.
Martinez covered the 41.8km course from Paipa to Tunja in 54:02 in a dominant performance, leaving Brandon Rivera (Ineos Grenadiers) 1:38 back for silver and former Astana pro Rodrigo Contreras (Nu Colombia) another 18 seconds down for the same bronze he earned a year before.
Off the podium by one spot was Nairo Quintana, who made his return to pro cycling with Movistar after a year away. He had a positive test for Tramadol from the 2022 Tour de France while riding for Arkéa-Samsic and was not signed by any team last season. He did compete at Colombian Nationals last February and finished third in the road race. He is expected to join his team in a few weeks to compete in Tour Colombia, which rejoins the calendar after pausing for three years.
Also among the WorldTour riders with solid times under the one-hour mark were Quintana’s Movistar teammate Einer Rubio in seventh, respectively, Ineos’ Egan Bernal in sixth and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost) in eighth. Bernal won the ITT championship in 2018.
Martínez is expected to wear a newly designed Colombian champion’s Bora skinsuit during the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal, which features a rolling 22km ITT on stage 4 in Albufeira. He used a fourth place on last year’s Volta 24.4km time trial on the final stage to secure the overall victory, with a two-second advantage over then-teammate Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers).
The women’s ITT covered 25.6km between Sotaquirá and Tunja. Peñuela completed the route in 41:32, 26 seconds better than Karen Villamizar (Boneshaker Project) when the clock stopped. In a battle for the bronze over a minute behind Peñuela, Ana Cristina Sanabria took the final spot on the podium, two seconds faster than Andrea Alzate (Eneicat-CM Team).
Peñuela is the defending elite women’s champion in the road race and returns to defend the title Friday when the women tackle 108.6km. The elite men encounter 211km on Sunday. Martinez will be joined at the start by Sergio Higuita, who won the national event in 2022.
