Vuelta al Táchira to go ahead despite US capture of president Maduro

The Vuelta al Táchira is set to go ahead as planned despite the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro by United States forces in Caracas in the early hours of Saturday morning.

The ten-day race is due to get under way in San Cristóbal on Friday. The 1,533km route is scheduled to bring the peloton through the states of Mérida, Barinas and Táchira before concluding in San Cristóbal on January 18.

The Vuelta al Táchira has been held every year since 1966, including during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Táchira Cycling Association has insisted that the sequence will not be broken in 2026.

“The Vuelta al Táchira will take place without any modification and from next Wednesday we will have the first foreign teams in San Cristóbal,” Josmer Cuadros of the Táchira Cycling Association said, according to Venezuelan news agency ACN.

The race organisation will hold a press conference on Wednesday but in a social media post on Monday, it announced that “everything is ready for the 2026 Vuelta al Táchira.” 

According to the race organisation, teams from Colombia (Garroteros de Santander and Gesprom Evolution) and Bolivia (Pío Rico Cycling Team) will cross into Venezuela via the Colombian city of Cúcuta, but the travel plans of the Cuban national team have been complicated by the American military attack on Venezuela. The six-man team had been due to arrive in Venezuela by way of Maiquetía, near Caracas. Mexican squad Arenas Tlax-Mex is also on the start list.

“There is no change in the route of the ten stages and José Gregorio Freites, the sole authority of Tachira sport, is in permanent contact with those in charge of the security operation to carry out the race without any setbacks,” said Cuadros.

Táchira, the mountainous region near the Colombian border, has long been the epicentre of Venezuelan cycling, with San Cristóbal hosting the 1977 World Championships, where Francesco Moser claimed the rainbow jersey. The Vuelta al Táchira established itself over the years as one of the most prestigious events on the South American calendar.

Colombian great Cochise Rodríguez won the inaugural Vuelta al Táchira in 1966, and Colombian riders have won the event on 18 occasions, most recently through Hernan Buenahora in 2007. Other foreign winners include Viatcheslav Ekimov, who won the race for the Soviet Union in 1988. 

The most successful rider in Vuelta al Táchira history is home favourite José Rujano, has won the race four times. Rujano placed 28th in last year’s race at the age of 42. The race was won by another Venezuelan rider, Eduin Becerra.