Sao Paulo – The morning of May 21 was ideal for cycling: little sun and pleasant temperature. And at the start of the 38th Pan American Road Championship, three countries: Colombia, the United States and Chile, took advantage of these conditions to add their first champions of this 2024 edition, after the individual time trial races were held.
The troop from Bogota dominated in the youth category of both sexes, thanks to the legs of Luciana Osorio and Róbinson Rincón from Casanareño, who dominated with the best time among all competitors; in the middle of a very soft and stimulating breeze that foreshadowed a quality competition in terms of the times recorded.
In the case of Luciana, she clocked 16:43.388 minutes in the circuit of 11 kilometers and 800 meters, ahead of the Ecuadorian Natalie Rivero (17:26.574) and another Colombian Maria Fernanda Torres (17:39.134); while Casanareño did it among the men by stopping the clocks in 30:04.770 minutes after beating the 23 kilometers and 600 meters programmed, 40 seconds lower than the one registered by the Ecuadorian Mateo Ramirez and the Brazilian Luis Fernando Bonfim (31:35.399).
After the performance of the youngsters, a legend of cycling in America and the world, the American Amber Neben, added her fifth crown in the continental championships time trial. And if we say that she did it at the age of 49, the feat grows. For the two laps of the circuit, the northern woman used 31:40.488 minutes, and took a lead of 42 seconds over her teammate Lauren Stephens and 46 seconds over the renowned Chilean Aranza Villalón.
Finally, the morning ended with a gold medal for Chile’s Héctor Quitana in the Under 23 category, who covered the three laps of the course in 45:26.32. The podium was completed by Nicholas Narraway, from Bermuda (45:35.581) and the Argentinean Mateo Kalejman (46:40.008).
Thus, the medal table of this Pan American Championship shows after four events Colombia in the lead with two golds and a bronze, escorted by the United States (1-1-0), Chile (1-0-1), Ecuador (0-2-0), Bermuda (0-1-0) and Argentina and Brazil (0-0-1).
This Wednesday the elite time trial for men will be held at the same venue, but in the afternoon, because in the morning the Congress of the Pan American Cycling Confederation (COPACI) will be held, in which the head of the International Cycling Union, David Lappartient, will be present.