The 2024 edition of the Tour de Panama starts this Tuesday with a 17.5 kilometers team time trial stage, which will be held in the town of El Coco, located in Penonomé, province of Coclé.
A total of 23 squads will be looking for the best record in Penonomeño territory, in a day that will also catapult the first leader of the individual general classification, as well as of the other categories that will be in dispute in this version.
Of the 23 teams that will start today, ten are foreigners and 13 are nationals. Among the teams visiting from abroad, there are three from Costa Rica, in addition to Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, United States, Cuba and a selection with cyclists from several Central American countries.
The Tour de Panama consists of six stages, with 450 kilometers to cover between the provinces of Cocle, Colon and Panama, integrating the peloton with more than 160 cyclists.
The current monarch of this international competition is the Colombian-Spanish Óscar Sevilla, who last year was the great dominator of a contest in which the national cyclists gave a great battle on the roads.
The second stage, which will be disputed this Wednesday again in Coclé, will be a circuit between El Coco, the entrance of San Juan, Penonomé and Toabré, to complete 110 kilometers.
On this occasion, the unpaved areas will once again be part of the route of this Tour, which represents an important economic injection for our country.
The Cinta Costera 3 will be the scene of the sixth and last stage next Sunday. This emblematic place, which intertwines the history of our nation with the Casco Antiguo and the modernity of the current buildings, will be framed by the waters of the Panama Canal.
Bolívar Espinosa, from Chiriqui, was the last Panamanian to be crowned champion of this Tour, when he achieved the feat in 2022.
Fuente: https://www.panamaamerica.com.pa