Dani Martínez beats Nairo Quintana and Egan Bernal to Colombian time trial title

The Colombian stars took on their first major race of the year, as Dani Martínez beat Nairo Quintana and Egan Bernal in the National Time Trial Championships.

Martínez (EF Pro Cycling) took a comfortable victory over his compatriots after the 41.4km-long solo test, beating Quintana by 29 seconds while Bernal missed out on the title for a second year.

The Nationals TT was held in the town of Pesca near Colombia’s northern border on Thursday (January 30), at an altitude of more than 2,400metres throughout the course.

At 34km, riders faced a 1km-climb at 5.2 per cent average, before the gradual rise to the finish.

Martínez fired through the course in 48-02, an average speed of 51km/h over the fast and straightforward course.

Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) took second, 28 seconds down on the winner with Bernal (Team Ineos) third at 32 seconds.

New signing to Ineos Brandon Rivera impressed with a fourth-place finish, 1-51 down on Martínez with Esteban Chaves (Mitchelton-Scott) in fifth.

Martínez has been hugely impressive at just 23-years-old, having won the National TT in 2019 and stage seven of Paris-Nice last year.

Another national title has eluded Bernal since he won the Colombian TT back in 2018.

Bernal and Martínez are both set to make their regular season debuts at the Tour Colombia 2.1 next month, a race that has a become a popular early-season marker for some big-name pros.

The Colombian Nationals follow the Australian Championships earlier this month, where the TT titles went to Luke Durbridge (Mitchelton-Scott) and Sarah Gigante (Tibco-SVB).

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In the Australian road race, Cameron Meyer took the men’s title while Amanda Spratt (both Mitchelton-Scott) took the women’s.

The Colombian Nationals continue with the elite road race on Sunday (February 2).