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EF Pro Cycling blazed to the victory in the opening team time trial, at the Tour Colombia 2.1, in Tunja.
Rally Cycling set the mark early in the day at 19:01, but was eventually overhauled by Deceuninck-QuickStep.
However, this benchmark was not to last, as EF Pro Cycling — who won the opening stage of the 2019 Tour Colombia — blistered past Deceuninck-QuickStep by 45 seconds, and nearly a minute ahead of Rally.
Times were taken on the 4th rider across the line.
All teams competed on traditional road bikes, with deep-profile wheels. Some teams strategically shed riders who were unable to keep the pace high. Teams which stuck together, were at an advantage.
EF Pro Cycling came into the final kilometer with five of six riders, and only dropped one additional rider in the final few hundred meters.
This put the Ecuadoran, Jonathan Caicedo, into the lead of the general classification. Colombian Egan Bernal (Team INEOS), the 2019 Tour de France champion, is 46 seconds in arrears.
Team INEOS’s Xabier Zandio commented that, “It was a decent start. In the last part of the course we started to become a bit disorganized but in general, with the team of climbers that we have here, we can be relatively happy.”
Tour Colombia continues on Wednesday, with with a 152.4km stage from Paipa to Duitama.
Stage One Results
1. EF Pro Cycling: 18:01
2. Deceuninck-QuickStep: +0:00:45
3. Team Ineos: +0:00:46
General Classification
1. Jonathan Klever Caicedo (EF Pro Cycling): 18:01
2. Daniel Felipe Martînez (EF Pro Cycling): at S.T.
3. Lawson Craddock (EF Pro Cycling): at S.T.