He finished 19th and Sanabria 23rd to retain both privileged places in the top 12 overall.

The lanky Randol Izquierdo was the fastest of the Cuba cycling team in the individual time trial that sealed today the seventh and penultimate stage of the Vuelta a Chiriquí 2024, in Panama.

The avilanian placed 19th overall and fourth in the under-23 category, 2.59 minutes behind the winner of the day: the local star Franklin Archibold (Panama Cultura y Valores). He clocked 24.15 minutes in the 19.3 kilometres run.

His compatriot, Vicente Sanabria, from Matanzas, finished 23rd, after negotiating the solo race with a time difference of 3.24 minutes.

With this good performance, the distinguished veteran and the young Izquierdo retained their privileged sixth and twelfth places, in that order, in the overall individual classification.

Their performances, along with another under 23, José Domínguez, who finished 39th (4.19), contributed to the West Indian squad remaining in sixth place collectively with just Thursday’s race to close the giro.

Yumurinos Joselín Piedra and Yariel de León, and Havana’s Ricardo Cardoso, were 41st, 42nd and 45th, respectively, and Jorge Rojas from Espiritu 68th.

The islanders made an extra effort, considering that they were among those who cycled with their road bikes and not with the specialised ones for this type of race, in which you fight alone against the clock and in an aerodynamic position all the way.

For De León it meant staying in 16th place overall, followed by Domínguez (30th), as well as Rojas (45th), Piedra (46th) and Cardoso (62nd) among the 68 men who remain in the competition out of the 78 who started on the 21st.

In the under-23 category, Izquierdo remains unchanged in fifth place and Dominguez in third. He leads the Panamanian Michael Caballero, general subtitle, and only behind the absolute owner of the turn, his compatriot Bolívar Espinosa, who defended this Wednesday the jersey by achieving the second best time.

The eighth and final stage will be run this Thursday in a closed circuit of four kilometres, so they will have to do 20 laps to complete the total of 80 to cover, according to the official bulletin.

The last three intermediate packs will be located on laps 5, 10 and 15, which will define together with the result of the final finish line who will climb the podium as the most combative of the competition.