Daniel Felipe Martínez (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) will be the two representatives of Colombia in the road event of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
According to what he learned WEEK Thursday afternoon, The Colombian is part of the list of pre-registered for the Vuelta a España and the little time for rest since the end of the Tour de France forced him to make a decision that affected the Colombian delegation.
Egan was at the official presentation of the teams on Thursday in Florence (Italy) and from there he confirmed the real reason why he will not go to the games this year. “Everyone knows how important it is for me, for Colombia and for the team to do the Vuelta a España. It is a race that I want to do no matter what,” he said in a chat with Cycling World.
“We had to choose and I think that Santi (Buitrago), who is the person who is going, deserved it as much or more than me. They will surely do very well and we will have an excellent performance,” he concluded.
The Zipaquireño preferred the Iberian round over the Games, something that It generated controversy among fans who were hoping to see him work with Daniel Martínez for the medal.
The truth is that Egan had already questioned his participation due to the tight schedule that he will have at the end of 2024. By not attending the Giro d’Italia, it was expected that he would do the Tour and Vuelta due to the significance that his name has in Ineos. .
Having been champion in 2019, he will have a lot of spotlights on him waiting for a great performance that surpasses last year when, back in the grand tours, he achieved a remarkable 36th place in the general classification.
Egan sets much bigger goals this year: “This Tour is going to be exciting. One is aware that An entire country and Latin America are thinking that we do it wellbut when it comes to competing you have to have a lot of mental clarity and make decisions with a cool head,” he said.
The first week, with large mountain passes, could be decisive for the desire to enter the top 10. “Things for me have happened very naturally, very progressively. I arrive at the Tour in my best peak of form of the year. This year I hope to suffer in a different way, it is the hardest race in the world. “I hope this year to be much further ahead, to try to do the best overall,” he said.
“I am very happy to be here in Italy for the start of this Tour. It is a beautiful presentation and we hope to have a good race,” he stated.
The Tour de France begins this Saturday, June 29, with a 206-kilometer day between Florence and Rimini. In total there are seven mountain passes that will surely put you on the run to win and take the yellow jersey before the favorites raise their voices.
