A winner at the 18th attempt and 'El Condor' returns - Vuelta al Táchira kicks off 2025 UCI racing
José Rujano comes back to the peloton at 42, while Eduin Becerra wins race ahead of Jorge Abreu
The hibernation is over. UCI road racing is back.
The focus of the cycling world has naturally been Down Under for the past few days, but the 2025 UCI calendar kicked off last Sunday in Venezuela, as has become tradition, at the Vuelta al Táchira.
The eight-day stage race is one of the longest-running cycling races in South America, having taken place in January every year since 1966. It’s the centre-piece of a strong Venezuelan cycling scene that has produced a swell of good talents in recent years, including the likes of Movistar’s Orluis Aular.
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The 60th edition of the race was won by 39-year-old veteran Eduin Becerra, who took victory for the first time on his 18th attempt.
Becerra, racing for Team Trululu Grupo La Guacamaya, claimed the crown by winning the queen stage on day seven atop the brutal climb of Cerro Del Cristo Rey. He won a tight tussle up the mountain against Jorge Abreu, breaking his GC rival’s resistance in the final 50 metres to win by four seconds on the day. Becerra won the race with a 22-second advantage over Abreu, while 2023 race winner Jose Alarcon was 1:05 back in third.
The race was made up of the best amateur and continental level racers from Venezuela, as well as the Dutch Universe Cycling Team and a couple of Colombian squads.
The most notable and perhaps surprising entrant to the race was a 42-year-old José Rujano. Nicknamed ‘El Condor’, Rujano stopped professional racing in 2013 after a season in the WorldTour with Vaconsoleil, although continued competing in South America for several seasons thereafter.
Rujano is most famous for his exploits in the 2011 Giro d’Italia, while racing for Androni Giocattoli - CIPI. At times, he was the only racer who could match a flying Alberto Contador in that edition of the Corsa Rosa, and won two stages. He was also third in the 2005 edition of the Giro.
A record-setting four-time winner of the Vuelta al Táchira, Rujano was racing the 2025 edition for the amateur QR Jimm Santos Triple Gordo CICPC team alongside his son, Jeison. A promising racer, Jeison Rujano has competed at amateur level in Spain since 2020. He finished the race in 23rd, five places ahead of father José, who was 28th overall.
"I thought about it a lot and I took on a series of challenges, including losing eight kilos of weight," José Rujano told Venezuelan publication La Nación before the race about his decision to making a return to competition. "All with the firm intention of fulfilling my duty to myself and my son Jeison, but above all to tell the world that I can still give something on a bicycle."
Rujano, who began his racing career back in 2003, when his son was a year old, admitted that the sport had moved on a great deal over the past few seasons.
"My son learns from me, but I also learn from him. With all the technology that exists these days, the preparation of a cyclist is very different from that of my time and so I prepared for this return in a different way than in the past. I hope I will not disappoint anyone, especially my son Jeison."
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There was also a tribute before the race got underway to the legendary late Italian team manager Gianni Savio, who had regularly brought teams to race the Vuelta al Tachirá during his career and signed several Venezuelans, including Rujano.
On the final weekend of the race, a women’s national-level event also took place. Both stages, a 4.9km time-trial and a 45km road stage, and the overall classification were won by Johaneth Sarely Vargas Rodriguez. Angy Luna finished just one second behind, with Andrea Contreras a further ten seconds back in third.
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