Vuelta a Bolivia 2008

Vuelta a Bolivia 2008
Host country	Bolivia
Competition period	2-9 November 2008
Stages	eight stages
overall length	1286 km
Starting field	111 drivers from 8 nations in 20 teams (74 of them arrived at the finish)
winner
Overall rating	1. Fernando Camargo 30:45:58 h 2. Óscar Soliz + 0:39 min 3. Alvaro Sierra + 0:58 min
Team evaluation	Lotería de Boyacá - Indeportes 92:22:10 h
Scoring jerseys
Overall rating	Fernando Camargo
Scoring	Edgardo Simon
Mountain scoring	Óscar Soliz
	2009 →

The 1st Vuelta a Bolivia took place from November 2nd to 9th, 2008 in Bolivia .

The bike race was part of the UCI America Tour 2009 , where it was classified in category 2.2 . The first eight drivers in the overall standings and the first three of each stage as well as those wearing the yellow jersey of the overall leader received points for the America ranking list after each stage. A total of $ 51,000 in bonuses was distributed.

The overall winner of the stage race was the Colombian Fernando Camargo (Lotería de Boyacá - Indeportes). He won with 39 seconds ahead of second placed Bolivian Óscar Soliz from Equipo Villazon, who also won the mountain classification. The podium was completed by Camargo's compatriot Álvaro Sierra (Cortez Genex Los Andes).

Attendees

At the start were 13 local Bolivian teams who had qualified by placing them at the top of the national team ranking of the Bolivian Cycling Association, as well as seven foreign teams from Argentina , Mexico , Ecuador , Colombia , Peru , Brazil and Chile , two of them Continental teams . German speaking drivers did not participate.

Continental teams Tecos de la Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara Lotería de Boyacá - Indeportes Other teams from abroad Éspoli Ecuador Romero 33 Dataro National teams  Argentina  Chile

Regional teams from Bolivia Equipo Villazon Sinchi Wayra Glass Casa Real Pío Rico Z Sport Energy Sol Gobierno Municipal de Oruro Andalucía Los Andes Prefectura de Chuquisaca Luis Reque Paracaya Maniac 17-45 Gobierno Municipal de San Lorenzo Policía Nacional

Stages

The Vuelta a Bolivia started in the flatter, hot east of the country and took the riders through the provinces of Santa Cruz , Cochabamba , Oruro and La Paz into the mountainous, cool west, where during the fifth stage with the 4,500 meter high La-Cumbre- Pass in the Andes the highest point of the race was reached. Because of this altitude, the competition was also known as the "roof of the cycling world". The third stage from Buena Vista to Villa Tunari was the longest section of the tour with 207 kilometers, while the last two days of the Vuelta were divided into two half-stages, which ran between the capital La Paz and Lake Titicaca . There were a total of 21 intermediate sprints and seven mountain classifications during the eight stages , one of which was in the honorary category (La Cumbre), two in the first category, two in the second category and two in the third category.

stage	Day	Start finish	km	Type	Stage winner	Overall leader
1.	November 2	Santa Cruz de la Sierra - La Guardia - Santa Cruz de la Sierra	158		Luis Fernando Sepúlveda	Luis Fernando Sepúlveda
2.	November 3rd	Santa Cruz de la Sierra - Okinawa I - Santa Cruz de la Sierra	164		Gerardo Fernandez
3.	November 4th	Buena Vista - Villa Tunari	207		Edgardo Simón
4th	November 5th	Corani - Cochabamba	139		Edgardo Simón
5.	November 6th	Bombeo - Oruro	141		Javier Salas	Gerardo Fernandez
6th	November 7th	Vila Vila - El Alto (Cruz Papal)	162		Alfredo Rios	Daniel Diaz
7. (1)	November 8th	Calle 21 Calacoto - San Pablo de Tiquina	115		Javier Zapata	Graciano Fonseca
7. (2)	November 8th	San Pedro de Tiquina - Copacabana	40		Alvaro Sierra
8. (1)	November 9th	Copacabana - San Pedro de Tiquina	39		Fernando Camargo	Fernando Camargo
8. (2)	November 9th	San Pablo de Tiquina - Calacoto	121		Yamil Montaño

Race course

Result of the 1st stage

	Luis Fernando Sepúlveda (CHI)	3:27:48 h
2.	Edgardo Simon (ARG)	+ 0:45 min
3.	Luis Mancilla (CHI)	equal time

Result of the 2nd stage

	Gerardo Fernandez (ARG)	3:45:19 h
2.	Luis Sepulveda (CHI)	equal time
3.	Daniel Diaz (GCR)	equal time

Result of the 3rd stage

	Edgardo Simon (ARG)	5:12:42 h
2.	Javier Salas (GCR)	equal time
3.	Luis Fernando Sepúlveda (CHI)	equal time

Result of the 4th stage

	Edgardo Simon (ARG)	2:56:04 h
2.	Javier Salas (GCR)	equal time
3.	Horacio Gallardo (GCR)	equal time

Result of the 5th stage

	Javier Salas (GCR)	3:52:04 h
2.	Alvaro Sierra (LAN)	equal time
3.	Horacio Gallardo (GCR)	+ 4:19 min

Result of the 6th stage

	Alfredo Rios (SIW)	3:47:38 h
2.	Jhonny Burgos (ATA)	equal time
3.	Edwin Callisaya (LAN)	equal time

Result of the 7th stage (a)

	Javier Zapata (LAN)	2:51:48 h
2.	Juan Cotumba (EVI)	+ 0:15 min
3.	Huberlino Mesa ( BOY )	equal time

Result of the 7th stage (b)

	Alvaro Sierra (LAN)	1:02:02 h
2.	Andres Diaz ( BOY )	+ 0:12 min
3.	Ignacio Gili (ARG)	equal time

Result of the 8th stage (a)

	Fernando Camargo ( BOY )	0:54:55 h
2.	Oscar Soliz (EVI)	+ 0:04 min
3.	Alvaro Sierra (LAN)	+ 0:39 min

Result of the 8th stage (b)

	Yamil Montaño (EVI)	2:41:08 h
2.	Luis Mancilla (CHI)	+ 0:06 min
3.	Ignacio Gili (ARG)	+ 0:08 min

The first stage victory in the history of Vuelta a Bolivia secured Chilean Luis Fernando Sepulveda (national), the attack on an intermediate Sprint 60km away from the end and a projection 45 seconds before the main field from the Argentine Edgardo Simon led, into the Rescued destination in Santa Cruz de la Sierra .

The following day, Sepúlveda was able to defend the overall leader's yellow jersey as second in the stage. In the sprint of a top group of fifteen riders, he only had to admit defeat to Argentinian Gerardo Fernández (national team). Since the top group had made it into the main field for almost five and a half minutes, a preliminary decision in the overall standings had already been made in favor of the fifteen best of the day.

The third and fourth sections of the day each ended in a mass sprint victory for Edgardo Simón (Argentina national team).

Two outliers made the fifth day win of the tour among themselves. Javier Salas (Clas Casa Real) distanced his escape companion Álvaro Sierra (Los Andes) in the sprint. Luis Sepúlveda, however, could not keep up with the best and lost the overall lead to Gerardo Fernández (Argentina national team).

Alfredo Ríos (Sinchi Wayra) was the first domestic stage winner of the Vuelta a Bolivia on the sixth section of the day, when he was able to leave his two compatriots Jhonny Burgos and Edwin Callisaya behind in the sprint of a top trio . Daniel Diaz (Glas Casa Real) took over the overall lead from his compatriot Gerardo Fernández, who dropped to ninth place.

The following day, the Colombian Javier Zapata (Los Andes) won the morning half-stage in San Pablo de Tiquina as a soloist with a fifteen-second lead over a group of ten pursuers, while his compatriot Graciano Fonseca ( Lotería de Boyacá - Indeportes ) won the yellow jersey of the Overall leader slipped on. In the afternoon it was again a Colombian from the Los Andes team, namely Álvaro Sierra , who won the stage as a soloist.

In the individual time trial of stage 8a, the overall classification was completely rewritten. Fernando Camargo (Lotería de Boyacá - Indeportes) completed the 39-kilometer course the fastest, taking over the yellow jersey from Graciano Fonseca , who dropped back to fifth. Second and third of the day Óscar Soliz (Equipo Villazon) and Alvaro Sierra now also took this rank in the overall classification, with Soliz at the same time as Camargo.

At the end of the tour, Soliz's team-mate Yamil Montaño ensured another Bolivian success with just under six seconds ahead of pursuers Luis Mancilla (national team Chile). Although the field had broken up into several parts, nothing changed in the first three places in the overall standings, mainly because Soliz even lost time on Camargo due to a fall in the last kilometers and thus missed the chance, due to a time bonus on Colombians pulling by.

Bottom line

Overall rating

Overall rating
space	driver	team	time
1.	Fernando Camargo	Lotería de Boyacá - Indeportes	30:45:58 h
2.	Oscar Soliz	Equipo Villazon	+ 00:39 min
3.	Alvaro Sierra	Los Andes	+ 00:58 min
4th	Graciano Fonseca	Lotería de Boyacá - Indeportes	+ 02:35 min
5.	Michael Rodriguez	Lotería de Boyacá - Indeportes	+ 02:59 min
6th	Ramiro Juvenal Calpa	Éspoli Ecuador	+ 04:27 min
7th	Florencio Ramos	Tecos Guadalajara	+ 04:51 min
8th.	Ignacio Gili	Argentina national team	+ 05:22 min

Further ratings

Scoring
space	driver	team	Points
1.	Edgardo Simon	Argentina national team	26th
2.	Daniel Díaz	Glass Casa Real	20th
3.	Graciano Fonseca	Lotería de Boyacá - Indeportes	9

Mountain scoring
space	driver	team	Points
1.	Oscar Soliz	Equipo Villazon	48
2.	Alvaro Sierra	Los Andes	47
3.	Graciano Fonseca	Lotería de Boyacá - Indeportes	40

0

Team ranking
space	team	time
1.	Lotería de Boyacá - Indeportes	92:22:10 h
2.	Equipo Villazon	+ 05:17 min
3.	Éspoli Ecuador	+ 15:58 min

Web links

• The Vuelta a Bolivia 2008 at 06.live-radsport.ch
• The Vuelta a Bolivia 2008 at cqranking.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Finalmente serán 20 equipos en la Vuelta a Bolivia, on: deportesbolivia.blogspot.de (Spanish)
2. ↑ Éspoli de Ecuador en Vuelta Ciclista a Bolivia, on: eluniverso.com (Spanish)
3. ↑ Etapas - I Vuelta a Bolivia, on: fidesciclismo.com (Spanish) ( Memento of October 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
4. ↑ Ciclismo: Chileno Sepúlveda gana primera etapa en Vuelta a Bolivia, on: emol.com (Spanish)
5. ↑ Ciclismo: Luis Sepúlveda sigue líder en la Vuelta a Bolivia, on: emol.com (Spanish)
6. ↑ La tricolor flamea en la Vuelta, on: fidesciclismo.com (Spanish)
7. ↑ Vuelta a Bolivia con sabor a café, on: deportesbolivia.blogspot.de (Spanish)
8. ↑ VUELTA BOLIVIA, on: escarabajoscolombianos-agarci.blogspot.de (Spanish)