Vuelta a Cuba Cycling Tour Has a new Leader

Santiago de Cuba.- Colombian Jaime Castañeda finished in the first position during the second stage of the 35th Vuelta a Cuba cycling tour and now is the new leader, both individually and in regularity.

Castañeda moved up from the fourth position in the general standings with 6:24.39 hours, followed by Venezuelan form the Escaladores de Merida team, Wilmen Bravo, and Cuban Raul Granjel, who tarid the leader by six and seven seconds, respectively.

In the regularity, a department that measures partial arrivals, the Colombian shows 20 points, like Bravo, while Damian Martinez has 18.

However, Jaime lost the leadership in the mountain primes to Cuban from the Universidad del Deporte squad, Jan Carlos Arias, who won the three sprints disputed this Wednesday and rules with 15 points over the 10 the Colombian shows.

There were changes as well in the under-23 category. The rider from Centro Técnico Oriental, Rafael Arrate trade his third position for the top and sent to the second former leader José Alarcón (Escaladores de Mérida), followed by Rubén Companioni (Universidad del Deporte).

In the team’s category, Cuba kept the leadership with the same time that those of Venezuela and Colombia.

The third stage will be raced tomorrow, being one of the two longest in the Vuelta a Cuba event, between this eastern city and Manzanillo, with 185 kilometers.

The race includes a C-category mountain prime, in Puerto Moya (21 km) and three sprints in Palma Soriano (45), Contramaestre (78) and Bayamo (125).