Vuelta a Guatemala

Infobox Cycling race
name = Vuelta a Guatemala


date = October-November
region = Guatemala
english = Tour of Guatemala
localnames =
nickname =
discipline = Road race
competition = UCI America Tour
type = Stage race
organiser = Fed. Nacional de Ciclismo de Guatemala
director =
first = 1957
number = 48 (as of 2007)
last =
firstwinner = flagicon|GUA Jorge Surqué
mostwins = "2 times:"
flagicon|GUA Aureliano Cuque López
flagicon|COLJosé Patrocinio Jiménez Bautista flagicon|GUA Edin Roberto Nova

mostrecent = flagicon|MEX Carlos Lopez Gonzalez

The "Vuelta a Guatemala" (Spanish for Tour of Guatemala) is a multi-day road bicycle racing stage race held annually and typically during late October and early November in several locations in Guatemala. The competition carries a UCI rating of 2.2 and is part of the UCI America Tour, which is one of six UCI Continental Circuits sponsored by the Union Cycliste Internationale, the sport's international governing body. [cite web|url=http://www.uci.ch/ucinet/uci.asp?page=Calendar&discipline=roa&ryear=2007&ridercategory=me&continent=ame&l=eng|title=UCI Road Calendar|publisher=UCI|accessdate=2007-11-11] The race is organized by the "Federacion Nacional de Ciclismo de Guatemala".

History

The "Vuelta a Guatemala", which has become the largest sporting event in the country in terms of spectator affluence, was first held in 1957. The winner of the first edition was local racer Jorge Surqué, and during the first four years the competition was dominated by Guatemalan and Colombian participants. As of 2007, Colombia is the nation with the most wins all-time, with 21 general classification individual wins.

From 1992 to 1996, five different Colombian participants took five consecutive titles, before local racer Luis Rodolfo Muj won in 1997, becoming the first Guatemalan to finish first since Edin Roberto Nova had won his second tour in 1988, and ending the longest drought of titles for his country.

Prior to 2002 and since 2005, the race has a UCI rating of 2.2, having also been rated 2.5 from 2002 to 2004. [cite web|url=http://www.memoire-du-cyclisme.net/etapes/eta_vuelta_guatemala.php?results=1|title=Vuelta a Guatemala|publisher=memoire-du-cyclisme.net|accessdate=2007-11-11]

The winner of the 2004 edition of the race, Lizandro Ajcú, was disqualified afterwards for doping in what was the biggest doping case of the race’s history – nine riders including the first four on the General Classification returned positive A samples. [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/jan05/jan01news |title=Nine positives in Vuelta a Guatemala|publisher=Cyclingnews.com|accessdate=2007-10-22]

In 2005, the tour was cancelled after Tropical Storm Stan's heavy rainfalls caused floods and mudslides which damaged infrastructure and caused 1500 deaths weeks before the race was due to begin. [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/oct05/oct11news2|title=Vuelta a Guatemala cancelled|publisher=cyclingnews.com|accessdate=2007-10-22] [cite web|url=http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/especiales/ME/resumen/2005/deportivo/07.shtml|title="La vuelta a Guatemala se suspende"|publisher="Prensa Libre"|accessdate=2007-10-22]

Past winners

References

External links

* [http://www.fnc-gua.com/ Website of Federación de Ciclismo de Guatemala – organisers of Vuelta a Guatemala]