Fernando Gaviria wins opening Tour Colombia stage ahead of Mark Cavendish

Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) won stage 1 of Tour Colombia in a high-altitude bunch sprint ahead of Davide Persico (Bingoal WB) and Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan).

Despite a very solid lead out from Astana, and a clean line to the finish, Cavendish was unable to match the speed of Persico or home favourite Gaviria, who burst through the pack on the left side of the road and breezed to a victory ahead.

The race, which returned after a three-year hiatus, opened with what was on paper a fairly straightforward sprint stage. Nevertheless, as is standard in Colombian racing, there was a twist with the stage finishing at an altitude of 2,490 metres. The whole 156km stage hovered around the 2,500-metre mark as the peloton took on a modified circuit race around Sogamoso.

A large break of Latin American riders formed the main escape of the day, but with a flat day on tap their advantage was kept in check by Cavendish’s Astana Qazaqstan team and Movistar for Gaviria.

By the 10km to go mark a sprint was all but guaranteed as Cavendish's revamped Astana lead-out was in full control of the peloton, despite a couple of last-ditch flyers coming from the domestic riders. However, in the end, their efforts weren't to be rewarded as the home rider Gaviria proved the fastest rider in the bunch, taking victory on his first day of racing in 2024.

Sprinters feast as the Tour Colombia returns

The opening stage of the 2024 Tour Colombia was set to be a sprinter’s delight with 156km of flat circuit racing on tap for the peloton which pitted some of the top sprinters from the WorldTour against the Latin American professional peloton.

While there may have been only three WorldTour teams in total at the Tour Colombia, Movistar and Astana both brought their top sprinters in Gaviria and Cavendish, respectively.

Astana brought most of their top leadout riders to give Cavendish his first dress rehearsal before the Tour de France this summer.

The break of the day went early with many of the Latin American teams keen to get their sponsors some TV time before the likely sprint finish. Ultimately, it was a breakaway of seven who made it up the road, with Bryana Sánchez (Team Medellín), Ignacio Prado (Canels Java), Lauro Moro (Swift Carbon), Diego Ochoa (Team Saitel) Cristian Muñoz (NU Colombia) David Gómez (Team Sistecrédito) and Iván Ojeda (Colombia Potencia de Vida).

The seven were never given much of an advantage, with the gap holding under the two-minute mark. The break contested the three sprints of the stage, taking what they could before the inevitable catch came.

In the last 20km, the breakaway began to splinter. The last man standing was the Brazilian Lauro Moro who outlasted the rest of the breakaway as the WorldTour teams marshalled the peloton before he was brought back into the fold for the final run to the line.

From 5km to go it was all Astana on the front as the likes of Alexey Lutsenko drove the pace for Cavendish. Their control continued into the last km of racing before Cavendish’s final leadout man Michael Mørkøv came to the front to launch their sprint a couple hundred metres closer to the line.

Gaviria didn’t hesitate and launched his sprint from far out on the opposite side of the road. Cavendish came across the road to try and find the Colombian’s slipstream but did not have enough to accelerate from his wheel as Gaviria flew to the victory ahead of Cavendish and Davide Persico who tried to squeeze between the barriers and Gaviria at the end.