Martinez and Peñuela Win ITT Titles at Colombian Championships

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Martinez and Peñuela Win ITT Titles at Colombian Championships

Dani Martinez (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Diana Penuela (DNA Pro Cycling) won the elite time trial race at the Colombian Championships on Thursday. Martinez won her fourth ITT national title since 2022. For Peñuela, it was his third title against the clock.

Martinez completed the 41.8 km course from Pipa to Tunja in 54:02, with Brandon Rivera (Ineos Grenadiers) 1:38 behind for the silver medal and former Astana athlete Rodrigo Contreras (Neu Colombia) another 18 seconds behind, the same as a year ago. He won the bronze medal.

One off the podium was Nairo Quintana, who returned to professional cycling after a year away from Movistar. He tested positive for tramadol while with Arkea-Samsic in the 2022 Tour de France and did not sign with any team last season. He did compete in the Colombian Championships last February, finishing third in the road race. He is expected to join the team in a few weeks and compete in the Tour Colombia, his first return to the calendar in three years.

Also, Quintana's Movistar teammate Einel Rubio finished seventh, Egan Bernal of Ineos was sixth, and Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Easy Post) was eighth, as the World Tour riders posted good sub-one-hour times. Bernal won the ITT Championships in 2018.

Martinez will wear the newly designed Colombian Champion Bora skinsuit in Portugal's Volta ao Algarve, where the 22km ITT will take place on stage 4 in Albufeira. He finished fourth in last year's final stage of the Volta 24.4km time trial, winning the overall by two seconds over then-teammate Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers).

The women's ITT was 25.6 km between Sotakira and Tunja, with Penuela finishing in 41:32, 26 seconds ahead of Karen Villamizar (Boneshaker Project). Ana Cristina Sanabria, who competed for the bronze medal more than a minute behind Peñuela, took the last spot on the podium with a time two seconds faster than Andrea Alzate (Eneicat CM Team).

Penuela is the defending elite women's champion and will compete in the 108.6 km race on Friday. The elite men will run 211 km on Sunday. Martinez will join 2022 national champion Sergio Iguita at the start.

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