Last weekend in the Andes Mountains of Colombia, the fifth edition of the Gran Fondo Nairo celebrated the return of grand tour superstar Nario Quintana to the 2024 WorldTour with a record 4200 participants.

Several top pros joined Quintana in the 130 kilometer amateur event, including Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates), Harold Tejada (Astana Qazaqstan) and his new Movistar teammate Einer Rubio. Although Quintana put in some impressive spirited attacks (video below) while riding alongside fans, he cautioned, “We have to be patient because I haven’t raced for a while. Taking everything into account, I’m in form. My numbers in training are similar to those when I was doing top [WorldTour] events. So I’m not worried about that, but it’s always different when you actually race.”

In the gran fondo event 39 year-old Wilmer García was crowned champion with a time of 3:59:30, followed seven minutes later by Luis Armando Ojeda (4:06:27) and then Iván Guiovanni Céspedes (4:09:39).

Last year’s overall champion Natalia Pardo Duque, 30, won the women’s gran fondo in 4:26:31. Merly Carreno (4:56:39) and Monica Fernanda Gutierrez Saza (5:03:35) also finished on the podium.

Jhon Lizarazo, 38, won the short 82km medio fondo in 2:49:03 for the men, with Yury Sanabria Leyton doping the same for the women in 3:23:56.

Photo Credit: Gran Fondo Nairo

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