This Saturday, April 9, Daniel Felipe Martínez became the second Colombian runner to become champion of the Tour of the Basque Country in Spanish territory.
Against all previous odds, Dani became unstoppable and stopped the favoritism of Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, Slovenian Primož Roglič, Belgian Remco Evenepoel and even his British teammate Adam Yates.
After a lightning attack, Martínez finished Itzulia in 21 hours, 59 minutes and 36 seconds, as first in the overall standings, a fact that Colombia has not celebrated since April 6, 2013, when Nairo Quintana did the same with 20 minutes and a second less than Daniel Martínez, today a rider who is currently a figure in the 2022 season of the English team Ineos Grenadiers.
Well, after winning the long-awaited title that his compatriot Sergio Luis Henao has so often been denied, Pipe raced like never before in the Basque Country and surpassed Spaniard Ion Izagirre and Russian Aleksandr Vlasov by 11 and 16 seconds apart.
The Cundinamarque athlete wore the white-red jersey of the best team ranking, as well as the green and yellow jersey for points classification and leader of the general standings.
These merits allowed him to win sports and economic awards above 12,000 euros, taking into account that until 2019 this was the monetary value that the organization of the race allocated to the winner of the general classification.
According to the Basque media outlet, Eitb, before 2019 the winners of each stage received 4,000 euros, and whoever had the best score, 2,000 euros.
Thus, the coffee beetle would have obtained, at least, 18,000 euros, that is, the equivalent of approximately 74 million Colombian pesos.
In any case, the final amount could increase to 80 million pesos, if the final sums of the monetary recognitions changed.
It should be noted that for most of the competition the leader of the overall standings was Primož Roglič, from Team Jumbo-Visma, and for one day was Remco Evenepoel, of the Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team. However, the merit in stage 6 between Eibar and Arrate catapulted Martínez Poveda as the best of the six days in Spain, where he also won stage 4, between Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zamudio with a vibrant, millimetre finish.
At the end of the sporting event, Martínez highlighted the work done by his teammates to conquer Itzulia. In a subsequent press conference, Daniel Felipe gave his impressions after the erosion of the Spanish competition and this is what he said in front of television cameras:
The expectation of Martínez's participation in a European grand tour is placed on his team, the Ineos Grenadiers, in which Egan Bernal, a revelation runner of the last decade in the sport on wheels worldwide, also plays.
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