October 29, 2007 – The American continent was very well represented at the UCI Road World Championships in Stuttgart. In the Elite Men Road race, three of the continent’s riders finished in the main group after a grueling 260 km-long race: two from USA, Hincapie and Van de Velde, and one from Colombia, Duque Leonardo.

The best overall performance from the American Continent came from Zabriskie, USA, with a 13th place finish in the time trial. In addition, four Under-23 athletes finished in the top 50 of their road race: two from the USA, one from Canada and one from Colombia. These are the future stars, as Canadian Meier proved by finishing 2nd overall at the Vuelta a Chihuahua in Mexico the following week.

The UCI America Tour rankings closed at the end of September. The overall Individual winner, Canada’s Svein Tuft, from the Symmetrics team, received his trophy from the UCI President Pat Mc Quaid at the UCI Gala in Italy. The overall best nation was Colombia and Team Symmetrics the best team, a well deserved title.

This month, the two main events were Venezuela’s traditional stage race, the Vuelta Banfoandes, and the Vuelta a Chihuahua, Mexico.

Both events attracted large crowds and were a huge success. Ten foreign teams came to the Vuelta a Chihuaha in Mexico, and Europe was represented by France, Spain, Portugal and Italy. The overall winner was Francisco Mancebo from the Spanish Relax-Gam team in front of the young Canadian Christian Meier from Symmetrics who took the U23 title. The team classification went to Slipstream from USA. Congratulations to the organizers for inviting so many high ranked teams.

The Vuelta Ciclistica Banfoandes in Venezuela attracted National Teams from Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, Chili, Ecuador and the local UCI Professional Continental Team Sella Italia Diquigiovanni. Overall, an excellent participation and the winner was one of the youngest participants, the 19-year-old Colombian Sergio Henao. He may well have been inspired by the achievements of his compatriot Soler in the Tour de France and Vuelta de Burgos!

These remarkable events kicked off the 2007-2008 season on a high note, with the third event following the same trend. Fifteen teams were at the start of the Vuelta a Guatemala, 7 of them coming from foreign countries: Venezuela, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Cuba and Dominican Republic.

The America Tour calendar is proud to reach the 50 events mark and it will continue to grow as more and more countries register their national event on the UCI calendar.