October 28, 2008 – Manuel Medina, of Venezuela, is the winner of this year’s America Tour, which drew to a close at the end of September. Medina was closely followed in the UCI rankings by the Canadian Svein Tuft, who went close to a second consecutive America Tour victory after his excellent performances in the time trials at the Olympic Games (7th) and the UCI Road World Championships in Varèse, Italy (2nd).

The USA emerged the strongest nation in the UCI America Tour, finishing in front of Venezuela. The best overall team was Garmin/Chipotle presented by H30 ahead of Team Symmetrics.

First two races of the new season

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

The Vuelta Ciclistica Banfoandes attracted national teams from Colombia, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Italy as well as the local UCI Professional Continental Team Serramenti Diquigiovanni. Overall, an excellent participation and the winner was the experienced Colombian Jose Serpa, who also conquered the points classification.

Both events attracted large crowds and were a huge success. Teams from Europe (Portugal, Spain, Austria, and Italy), America (Colombia, Canada, USA) and from Japan participated in the Vuelta a Chihuahua in Mexico. The overall winner was again the Spanish rider Francisco Mancebo, while the teams classification went to Tecos-Trek. Congratulations to the organizers for inviting so many high ranked teams.

These remarkable events are the first of the 2008-2009 season and it’s definitely a good start. The Vuelta a Guatemala is currently in progress, with participating teams coming from Venezuela, Costa Rica, Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia.