Julian Alaphilippe and Bob Jungels headline our six-man squad for next week’s event.
Our second and final race in South America will be one that has witnessed seven Deceuninck – Quick-Step stage victories in two previous participations, netted by four different riders. One of these is Julian Alaphilippe, the only European rider to finish in the top 10 at each of the past editions and winner of the points classification last year.
After a bout of illness cut short his first outing of the season, the Vuelta a San Juan, the Velo d’Or recipient is ready to return to action at the race which is taking place between 11-16 February and venture into some of the country’s highest terrain. Joining him will be 2019 stage winners Alvaro Hodeg and Bob Jungels, together with Mikkel Honoré, neo-pro Jannik Steimle and Bert Van Lerberghe.
For the second year in a row, Tour Colombia will start with a team time trial, followed by two stages which should end up in a bunch sprint. A punchy finish on stage 4 will signal a change of terrain, which will become more and more demanding, taking the riders in the weekend on the rolling roads to Zipaquira, where the general classification will take shape, and Alto Verjon (18.1km, 5.1%), the tough summit finish that will crown the overall victor.
“For some guys, this will be the first race of the year, and we hope to continue our tradition of winning stages in Colombia, especially as we have several cards to play. We can get a good result as early as the opening day, when we’ll have a TTT, a discipline which we are very fond of. Concerning the GC, it will be difficult as there’s a lot of altitude meters this year and many Colombian riders on the start line, but this doesn’t mean we won’t try. We love racing in Colombia, the crowd is fantastic and they always give us a warm welcome there, and we hope to give them something to cheer for next week”, said sports director Wilfried Peeters.
