The 2025 Collado del Cóndor Gran Fondo will make history in the country’s cycling world, not only for achieving Guinness World Record certification as the race with the longest climb, but also for being the fastest of its five editions.

A team, supported by Bancamiga and Ultrabikex, will participate on Sunday, March 23rd in the Bancamiga Challenge, which will bring together six outstanding cyclists with a common goal: to complete the 125 kilometers in under 5 hours and 15 minutes.

Professional cyclists and Vuelta al Táchira winners José Rujano (2014, 2015, 2010, and 2015), José Alarcón (2023), and Edwin Becerra (2025) will join forces and enthusiasm with Alfonso Márquez (winner of the Gran Fondo Collado del Cóndor in 2023 and 2024), Alan Noya, and Jeison Avendaño to beat the established time limit.

“The interesting thing about this challenge is that it can only be achieved if at least four of the team finish together. “It’s a way to promote teamwork, which is so important and which Bancamiga promotes on a daily basis,” said Raúl Penso, Technical Director of the Bancamiga Challenge.

He maintained that Alberto Camardiel’s idea is a kind of Justice League, but unlike the film, they are not metahumans seeking to save the planet from a catastrophic threat, but rather a group of outstanding professional and amateur cyclists who together will seek to set a record on a 125-kilometer route that connects Estanques with Collado del Cóndor, 4,200 meters above sea level.

Four starts with Bancamiga

Unlike other competitions in which elite athletes start first, the six-person group participating in the Bancamiga Challenge will start 30 minutes after the competitors in this distance, which adds even more color to the event.

“I thought all of this was a fantastic idea. It’s incredible that private companies support athletes and the Gran Fondo in this way.” “Uniting all these superstars is wonderful, and that makes me very happy,” added Penso, who will also be on the starting line for the 125-kilometer race and has been a national cross-country and XCM (long-distance cycling) champion. He recently became the first Venezuelan to paraglide over Pico Bolívar, at an altitude of 5,170 meters above sea level.

The Gran Fondo Collado del Cóndor will feature four starts adapted to different levels, designed to give all cyclists the opportunity to summit the Collado del Cóndor:

• Mucuchíes: 26 kilometers from an altitude of 2,983 meters.
• Valle Hermoso: 46 kilometers starting at 2,020 meters above sea level.
• Mérida: 80 kilometers through the majestic Sierra Nevada.
• Estanques: 125 kilometers from an altitude of 426 meters, the longest and most challenging route. (Distance that will set the Guinness World Record)

With information and reference images from Bancamiga Banco Universal

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