The national cyclist Gerson Toc (Decorabaños) won this Sunday the title of the 62nd Cycling Tour of Guatemala in its tenth and final stage, raced over 109.4 kilometers in Guatemala City, one of the favorite cycling places in Central America.
On the easy circuit, the wearer of the leader’s yellow jersey since last Thursday maintained the time difference in relation to his closest rivals in the individual general classification.
Toc, 28 years old and the first to go to Honduras on September 17, in statements to the press after passing the finish line, confessed: “I came with my mind set on being able to win and it was a dream come true.”
He actually rescued the championship in the queen stage, over tough mountainous obstacles, to the joy of the fervent fans of this nation after the Ecuadorian dominance in the first six stages.
The Costa Rican Sebastián Brenes (SevenCard Economy Lacoinex) took the Sunday route with a time of two hours, 27 minutes and 34 seconds, followed by the Ecuadorian veteran Byron Guamá (Movistar Best PC) and Brayan Obando, from the team of that South American country .
In a second, a platoon of 12 other athletes also entered, among them the young man from home Sergio Chumil (Hino-One-Suzuki), winner of the routes on Monday, Tuesday and third last Wednesday.
Guamá, best placed in the specialty ranking among all participants, came second in the general table at 1:42 and Stalin Fuentestar, also from that country’s team, at 2:17.
The Guatemalan pre-competition favorite and unobjectionable winner in his native Totonicapán four days ago Mardoqueo Vásquez (Hino-One-Suzuki) will finish sixth, given the separation from him at 9:12.
The Colombian Cristian Bustos (As Quetzaltenango), at the top of the podium after Thursday’s stage and best placed of the always dangerous ones in the coffee land, finished eighth in the rankings, at 12:19.
The hosts have enjoyed the maximum title of the event since 2017 when Manuel Rodas won, in 2018 it was won by Alfredo Alpacajá, 2019 Rodas again, as well as 2020 and 2022 Vázquez, since in 2021 it was canceled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Hino-One-Suzuki won the team crown, while the Chimaltenango Association finished second and behind Pollería Carmencita; while Guamá dominated the regularity with 123 points and the host Esdras Morales (Hino-One-Suzuki) the mountain with 46 units.
The home team’s Brayan Ríos (As de Quetzaltenango) came out smiling with his 49 streaks in the flying goals. Another Tico Luis Aguilar (SevenCard Economy Lacoinex) followed the strategy to the letter this Sunday to climb to the top under-23, ahead of the Guatemalan Edwin Sam (As Chimaltenengo).
Colombia has the highest number of victories (25) in the historical individual general classification, ahead of Guatemala, now 21, and Costa Rica six.
Source: Agencia Prensa Latina