Tour Colombia cancelled for 2026 season due to financial constraints
This marks the second consecutive cancellation for the race, with the 2025 edition also scrapped due to similar financial problems.
The Colombian Cycling Federation has cancelled Tour Colombia for 2026 after failing to secure the 10 billion Colombian pesos (€2.26 million) in sponsorship required to host the UCI 2.1 category event.
The race had been included on the UCI calendar for the 2026 season but federation president Rubén Darío Galeano and his team were unable to generate the finances required to go ahead with the event.
"The confirmed contributions are insufficient to cover the scale of an event that, on average, requires an investment exceeding 10 billion Colombian pesos," the Federation said in their announcement.
The Tour Colombia has grown into one of Latin America's most prestigious cycling races since its inception in 2018. The federation claims that previous editions generated nearly 40 billion pesos (£7.8 million) across host regions and attracted television audiences exceeding 20 million viewers worldwide.
Despite the continued setback, Galeano remains committed to reviving the race in the future. "We reaffirm our commitment to continue working toward the return of the Tour Colombia, maintaining the organisational, technical, and sporting quality that has positioned the race as a benchmark in Latin America," he said.
The federation plans to use 2025 and 2026 to strengthen partnerships and secure new sponsors, aiming to establish a sustainable long-term model for the event.
Tour Colombia has a brief but notable history in the cycling calendar. Egan Bernal claimed victory in the inaugural 2018 edition, followed by Miguel Ángel López and Sergio Higuita winning in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
The race faced a lengthy hiatus when the 2021 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, remaining absent in 2022 and 2023. It made a brief comeback in 2024, when Rodrigo Contreras took the overall victory.
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