Local Mardoqueo Vázquez appears today as the wide favorite among 114 riders from 14 national and five foreign teams to take victory in the 62nd Vuelta Ciclística a Guatemala, scheduled between November 17 and 26.
In the long-awaited sports festival, scheduled from tomorrow until the 26th, the 2020 and 2022 champion will seek to win the individual general classification for the third time, although his countryman Manuel Rodas returns, another key card.
Vázquez, 28 years old and a rider for the Guatemalan Hino-One-Suzuki team, took to the roads of Spain in 2023 with Rías Baixas, a performance that paved his preparation for this competition.
Meanwhile, Rodas, holder of caravans 57 and 59 (2017 and 2019), will try to put his experience ahead of a good legion of talented cyclists from Latin America who come to excel in a UCI 2.2 classified event.
The Ecuadorian Byron Guamá, 38 years old and member of the Movistar Best PC, stands out by occupying the best position in the specialty ranking among the participants.
The Colombia Pacto Por El Deporte–GW Shimano will also animate the competition, which will have in its ranks the coffee grower Winner Anacona, a professional athlete who won a stage in the Grand Tours.
Among the foreign teams, Canel’s Pro Cycling, from Mexico, stands out, which will return to compete in a Vuelta a Guatemala after triumphs in 2007 and 2016.
Other confirmed rosters are the Ecuador team, AgroMX Cultivando Campeones, Petrolike from Mexico and the Honduras team. The multicolored caravan will begin this Friday in the northeastern department of Petén, starting in the San Benito municipality and ending in Río Dulce, Izabal, a picturesque stage along the shores of Lake Petén Itzá.
It will have a very demanding subsequent departure with the longest route of 203 kilometers (km), from the emblematic Castillo de San Felipe, in Izabal, and closing in Ipala, Chiquimula.
The fifth will take place outside of Guatemala, in Tapachula, Mexico, with a route of 140 km, which the neighboring nation opens for the first time to the greatest Chapin sports spectacle of the year.
The sixth, called “Etapa Súper Reyna”, will start in Tocún Uman, San Marcos, with the final finish line in Totonicapán, 142.7 km with mountainous and vibrant landscapes.
In total, the riders will demonstrate their conditions during 10 days of racing and will travel 1,452 km, while they will have 60 intermediate prizes, 30 mountain prizes and the same number of flying goals.
The Vuelta will recognize, in addition to the individual overall leader, the best Guatemalan, the leader in flying goals, mountain prizes, regularity, the under-23 champion and the stage winner.
Source: Agencia Prensa Latina