Cairo , Egypt
March 14-17, 2023
Colombia Team overall performance
In the second round of 2023 Tissot UCI Track Nations Cup event which started in Cairo,
Egypt on Tuesday this week and ended on Friday, the Colombian team had a great
participation although with some ups and downs normal in this type of competitions where
they compete with athletes who are often better prepared or at a higher level.
On Wednesday, the Colombian riders were present in the team sprint race. There, Kevin
Santiago Quintero, Santiago Ramirez and Cristian Ortega formed the team that
represented the country in this modality.
In this event, Colombia performed better than in the Indonesian stop, as the nationals
finished in tenth place in the qualifying round. However, it was not enough to qualify to the
final sprint team race.
Although the national team did not advance to the final of the event, they performed better
than the result obtained at the first stop in Jakarta, where they had finished in 13th place.
On Thursday, the Colombian squad ,were present in the individual events. The most
outstanding performance was on behalf of Quintero in the men’s keirin.
The rider from Valle del Cauca reached the semifinal of the event, where he finished fourth
in this heat, which was not enough to qualify for the final. However, he won the round that
defines the classification between boxes 7 and 12, so Quintero finished seventh in the final
classification of this event.
Santiago Ramirez also participated in the men’s keirin. The cyclist lost in the first round
and had to compete in the repechage where he was second in heat 2, which left him
eliminated from the event.
Finally, Martha Bayona competed in the women’s individual sprint, where she finished in
tenth place. The Santander-born athlete passed in the first round against the Dutch Steffie
Van der Peet, but fell in the seventh heat of the round of 16 with Hetty van der Wouw, also
from the Netherlands.
On Friday took place the last day of the UCI Nations Cup in the stop that takes place in
Cairo (Egypt). Colombians Martha Bayona, Kevin Santiago Quintero and Cristian Ortega
had competition in the tests held this Friday.
The first turn was for Quintero and Ortega, who participated in the men’s sprint race. The
former finished in ninth place overall, while the athlete from Atlantico was 13th.
At the individual level, Kevin Santiago Quintero defeated Kazakhstan’s Andrey Chugay in
the first round, but lost to Jaïr Tjon En Fa of Suriname in the round of 16. Meanwhile,
Cristian Ortega lost to Japan’s Kohel Terasaki in the first round.
Meanwhile, Bayona competed in the women’s keirin event. The woman from Santander
finished in second place in the heat 1, which allowed her to advance directly to the
quarterfinals. However, she finished last in heat 3 of this round, so she was left out of the
competition.
In this way, the delegation led by John Jaime Gonzalez ends its presentation in the second
stop of the UCI Nations Cup after having competed in the first valid that took place in
Indonesia last February.
The next competition in this event will take place between April 20 and 23 in the city of
Milton (Canada).
