Castañeda claims bunch sprint victory

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Race directors promised a rarity for the Vuelta a Colombia, a bunch sprint, and on Monday's 168km stage two from Rio Negro to the steamy Puerto Boyaca they fulfilled their promise, with EPM-UNE's Jaime Castañeda besting Indeportes-Antioquia's Óscar Sevilla and GW-Shimano's Marlon Perez for the victory.

Sevilla, however, won't be worrying too much about losing the sprint as the Spanish rider moved into first place in the general classification ahead of his teammates, Sergio Luis Henao and Jannier Acevedo, respectively. Indeportes-Antioquia leads the team classification and the first nine spots on general classification, with Castañeda securing a spot for EPM-UNE in tenth.

"I'm very happy and content to have this result," Sevilla said. "Castañeda is very crazy and he cut into my line. I thought I was going to go down."

Things did not go as well for reigning Vuelta champ Jose Rujano who punctured less then three kilometres from the stage finish and rolled in well after the main pack. The Venezuelan Rujano did not have his best outing with two punctures on the day causing him to constantly play catch up with the peloton.

The stage started under partly cloudy skies when the peloton rolled out of Rio Negro and almost immediately came under attack from breakaways. A breakaway of four riders hit the first categorized climb of this year's Vuelta, the category three Alto Bonito, about 17km into the stage, with GW Shimano's Jaime Vegara taking the first mountain prize.

The peloton reeled in the first breakaway fairly quickly and for much of the day stayed together as it rolled past the strange juxtaposition of solders clad in fatigues and carrying assault weapons and bunches of uniformed, screaming school children who line much of the roads during the Vuelta a Colombia.

However, by the time the race reached the base of the day's final climb, the category three Alto Monteloro, the pack began to unravel and a group of seven riders broke away that included Vegara and the Bolivian Oscar Solis of the EBSA team.

As the temperatures rose on the last climb of the day, some big names in Colombian cycling dropped off the back including Victor Hugo Peña, Marlon Perez and Carlos Betancourt. Luckily for Betancourt and Perez, they caught back up as the peloton reformed on the descent with Betancourt taking fourth in the day's first intermediate sprint and Perez finishing third in the stage.

First in the intermediate sprint was GW Shimano's Camilo Gomez, who broke away from the peloton and by the time the race passed Hacienda Napoles, the former residence of infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar, and crossed over the Magdalena River into Boyaca, he had amassed a three-minute gap over the field. Gomez won both of the day's sprints and sits atop the sprint competition.

But three minutes was not enough time on the flat final 10 kilometers for Gomez to take the stage. He was swept up before the race hit the final straight into Puerto Boyaca, where after some jostling Castañeda outsprinted Sevilla and Henao by over a bike length.

Tuesday's 191km stage three from Puerto Boyaca to Barrancabermeja will be a scorcher as the peloton races through the lowlands of a Boyaca. Racing will be even more suited to the sprinters, with no categorized climbs and three sprints throughout the stage. Look for another bunch sprint before the race heads into the mountains later in the week.

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