A Change of Climate
Egan Bernal, at just 22 years and 195 days, was the youngest Tour winner for 110 years.
Fabior, Nairo and Egan were from the same high-altitude plateau north of Bogota.
Egan’s hometown is Zipaquira.
Efrain Forero Trivino suggested Tour of Colombia in 1949 that would include Alto de Letras – 50-mile climb. He was from the same town as Egan. He celebrated Egan’s win on Tour in 2019 with him in their hometown.
Some riders from early Colombia history: Ramon Hoyos, five-time winner of the Tour of Colombia. Martin Emilio Rodriguez – Cochise. First winner of Tour of Tachira State in Venezuela.
Colombia is the country of violence. The historians are calling the time between 1946 and 1958 La Violencia.
Cali cartel funded Ernesto Samper, President of Colombia from 1994 to 1998.
And than there are rebels. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The National Liberation Army (ELN). And other paramilitary groups.
Big step in Colombian cycling was creation of Colombia Es Passion cycling club. Luis Guillermo Plata was responsible for it. Nairo Quintana, Esteban Chaves, Darwin Atapuma, Jarlison Pantano, Sergio Luis Henao, Fabio Duarte and Sergio Higuita all passed through Colombia Es Passion or its subsequent manifestation 4-72 Colombia and Manzana Postoben.
The story of Colombian cycling is the story of the Colombian peasantry and their responses to a time of crisis.
Cold Energy
The high altitude Colombian department of Boyaca is important for Colombian cycling. It is a home of Nairo. He was born on 4th of February 1990.
The Quintana kids had mental capacity to fight outer problems. Nairo structured inner life was his gift to fight all problems. Nairo bought his first bike from school allowance. He started cycling down the dangerous road Tunja-Arcabuco highway.
Nairo’s first coach was Rusbel Achagua. He was introduced to him by Raul Malagon, who was first to help Nairo with cycling. He was killed in 2007, and that was a first person Nairo lost in his life.
In 2005, Major Silva supported the creation of Arcabuco’s own cycling team, Alcadia de Arcabuco.
Nairo didn’t want to join the biggest team in Tunja, Chocolate Sol. He was always fighting with the whole their team on races. But he did race his first race outside Colombia for them. In the Venezuela.
Colombia Es Passion
The director of ProExport, the government agency responsible for fueling Colombian tourism and trade, was Luis Guilermo Plata Paez.
They create Colombia El Pasion. Ignacio Velez was running it. In the first three years of the team’s existence, Velez attempted to inculcate the values of clean sport.
Velez, Saldarriaga and Rios pioneered much that was new in Colombian cycling: the latest in sports science and psychology, training based on power meters, a no-needles policy.
Darwin’s Parrot
Cali was famous for sprinters. Leonardo Duque was one of them.
Another Colombian cyclist was Jarlison Pantano. In 2007 he was a trainee of World Cycling Centre, together with Chris Froome.
In 2008 and 2009 Saldarriaga moved a team to Medellin.
Sergio Luis Henao was also good at cycling. And his family offered a home not only for Pantano, but also other cyclist, like Sergio’s cousin Sebastian and Chaves and Carlos Betancur.
Aguapanela – concentrated sugar-cane juice that dissolved in water is the Colombian cyclist’s traditional on-road refreshment.
There were nine Atapuma siblings and Darwin Atapuma was one of them. They lived in the town of Tuquerres on 3.100 metres.
Carpenters and Their Sons
Jhoan Esteban Chavez was also trained by Saldariagga.
Jairo’s mother was born in 1943 in the town of Purificacion. In 1957 she joined millions of small farmers displaced by the bloodshed. They settled in Barrio Simon Bolivar, in north-west Bogota.
Colombian barrios are categorized by levels or ‘strata’ which determine the costs of social services. The wealthiest areas are classified six.
Between August 1989 and May 1990 eighteen car bombes exploded in Colombia.
Against the Grain
In March 2004 an ex-Kleme rider named Jesus Manzano had given the Spanish sport daily AS a detailed account of his doping practices as a member. Arrests follow. One of them was team doctor Eufemiano Fuentes and his sister.
Antioquia and Boyaca are two department in Colombia that fight for cycling supremacy. Vincente Belda created Boyaca’s project Boyaca Institute of Sport cycling. Nairo sign for them in 2008. But he asked for a place on Es Passion team for next year. Esteban Chaves got his spot.
Touring the future
The Tour de l’Avenir was a race of great historical meaning in Colombian cycling. By winning the 1980 edition, Alfonso Flores has opened the doors of European racing to his country.
At the start of the 2009 Vuelta a Colombia, nearly the entire peloton had a red blood cell count above the legal limit. Colombia es Passion was not that kind of club.
Nairo signed for Es Passion for three years and 13.000 USD yearly. Contract was negotiated by Vicente Belda. He has won 2010 Tour de l’Avenir. Jarlinson Pantano was third.
Chance
Village of Urrao is a gateway to one of the most biodiverse square miles on Earth.
Finca La Soledad was judged in 2018 as province with one of the best coffee in Antioquia. It is a place where Rigoberto’s Uran family is from. Verenda Pabon is the place where Oscar de Jesus Vargas was also born. And it is know for one of the greatest civil unrests in Colombia in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1990s a place was again in newspapers, when FARC kidnapped and killed two high ranking politicians.
That was a place where Rigo (Rigoberto Uran) trained and lived. His father’s life was also taken in the violent matter. Father of Oscar de Jesus Vargas was also shot probably by FARC.
Rigoberto model of behavior was Cochise Rodriguez.
The Vuelta del Futuro, the Vuelta del Porvenir and the Vuelta de la Juventud are the three leading stage races for younger group riders.
Young riders came from Urrao to Medellin. They passed from Jose David in Urrao to Mincho in Medellin.
Rigo signed his first foreign contract in 2006 and in 2011 he signed for Sky. He was the bridge to Europe for many that went there after him.
The Bike Exchange
Nairo rode the Vuelta a Cataluna in 2011. That year Chaves won Tour de l’Avenir.
Victor Hugo Pena was the first Colombian to wear yellow jersey.
Nairo signed a contract with Movistar in 2012. Movistar wanted to build strong presence in South America.
Colombian riders started to move to Europe. Six of them started 2012 Vuelta a Espana.
A Fortunate Man
Winner Anacona. His father was policeman, who had a good fortune to survives in some of Colombia’s most notorious regions. Winner’s story starts with his father – and his name.
His father was born in Coper, a village of famed emerald fields. But emeralds brought troubles. First the Spanish administrator Pedro Arias de Avila in 1514. Later in 20th Century, they were taken over by Victor Carranza, the Emerald Czar. His private army committed more than a thousand killings in 1985 and 1986 alone.
Anaconas moved to Tunja.
One time Winner went to his grandfather with his father. The bus had to go over La Linea, know to cyclists as one of Colombia’s hardest climbs, reaching an altitude of 3.265 meters.
Born again
On 16 February 2013 Esteban Chaves started the second race of his second season as a professional cyclist: the Laigueglia Grand Prix. He had an accident and hurt this collarbone. He was out for a long time. But Orica still signed him.
Two seconds
In the 2013 Giro, Uran was second overall and Carlos Alberto Betancur was fifth. The new generation was beginning to fulfil its potential.
Nairo won his first WorldTour stage race in Tour of the Basque Country. He also finished on the podium of the Tour. He received the Cross of Boyaca from president Santos.
Rules of engagement
In 2014 there were 14 Columbian cyclist in Giro. Nairo and Uran were both in strong position. Uran won the first time trial. On the Gavia three Colombian attacked: Chalapud, Pantano and Arreondo.
Nairo won and became the first Colombian since Lucho Herrera to win a three-week tour. Uran was second.
The Agricultural Ambassador
After the win Nairo was very loud on the situation in Colombian cycling. He was not happy.
Dr. Alberto Beltran Nino is a Colombian doctor known for his doping connected practices. In 2009 he had emigrated to Bahrain.
Colombia’s doping problem was an open secret.
The riders succeeding in Europe, almost without exception, had either developed in the protected, anti-doping precincts of Columbia El Pasion, or left Colombia young.
Everyday Pain
In 2014 Miguel Angel Lopez was the fifth Colombian on the podium and the third winner in the last five years.
He was another rider from peasant family.
Jarlison Pantano once said, cycling is the only sport where the athletes say that they don’t want their son to be a cyclist.
Bernal has the best brain, Lopey has the best cycling physigue.
Belda helped place Lopez in Astana.
Fast Feet
Fernardo Gaviria Rendon is a sprinter. He was brought up in La Ceja del Tambo. 20 kilometers from Rionegro. The town was known for paramilitary leaders.
At that time twelve of the seventeen WorldTour teams had at least one Colombian rider.
Closer
In 2015 Nairo won Tirreno-Adriatico in which he was better then Contador.
His Tour the same year started bad. He lost some time in cross-wind stage. At the end he was second. Without that stage he might win.
Esteban Chaves was another grand tour potential for Colombia. His goal was Giro. He got second.
In 2016 Nairo finished again on the podium of Tour. But the cracks in his relationship with Movistar were getting bigger.
In 2016 Lopez started his first three-week tour. It was Vuelta. Nairo and Chaves finished on the podium of Vuelta.
2016 was a great year for Colombian cycling and Colombian peace process. Chaves also won Il Lombardia. First Colombian to won a monument.
The Boy Who Grew Up Too Fast
Bernal was an unusual talent. His family had lived in Los Cambudos, part of Bolivar 83, known as Ziapquira’s most insecure barrio. In 2008 they moved to El Porvenir.
Egan started cycling young. His most trained spot was the climb up the Neusa Dam called Las Margaritas.
His early life was influenced by Fabio Rodriguez and Manzuera.
Egan oxygen uptake was 88.8ml/kg/min. He signed a contract with a team in Italy.
Double Trouble
2017 Giro was a good race for Gaviria, winning four times. Nairo finished second overall.
But Nairo wasn’t that good in Tour. Eusebio Unzue Movistar director said that Nairo started to get old very young. Movistar was bringing Landa.
The Yellow Man
The Pinzaima River has its source in Sutapa and its end in the Magdalena River, near the town of Honda.
Daniel Martinez is the new hope of Colombia cycling. He is also from Bogota, but he loves nature. He likes to work on the sugarcane crop. Producing panela, the traditional energy source for Colombia’s cyclists.
Martinez dream is Tour. He is from Muysca culture – the children of sweetcorn, the yellow is everywhere.
Migrants’ Stories
Martinez rode his third Tour de l’Avenir in 2017. Leader of the team was Bernal. Sprinter was Hodeg.
Bernal won it and sign a contract with Team Sky. But Hodeg sign a WorldTour contract before him with Quick-Step.
Hodeg was part of migrant family. Between 1815 and 1930 more than 50 million migrants crossed the Atlantic. Fifty-four Scottish volunteers fought for Colombian independence from Spain between 1810 and 1830.
Order of Succession
Colombian cycling organization is organizing some races, not only championship. In 2018 one event was launched as Oro y Paz. The event was won by Bernal.
The new generation was on its way. Nairo and Uran were replaced by likes of Bernal, Lopez and Ivan Ramiro Sosa.
Constant Gardeners
Sosa signed for Team Sky. His strong performance in Vuelta de Burgos and Tour de’l Avenir were responsible for that.
Chiaroscuro
Fernando Saldariaga and his wife Amparo hosted a lot of cyclists like Chaves, Nairo, Luis Henao.
Cyclotara was a cycling club from Taraza. Henry Daniel Restrepo was part of it. But the place was a part of the Farc territory. Restrepo moved to Medellin.
In 2019, the club that supported Colombian cycling dream Manzana Postbon (before Colombia Es Pasion and 4-72 Colombia) ended.
Richard Carapaz won the Giro. He was born in 1993 in El Carmelo. He was not alone in WorldTour from Ecuador. Johnathan Narvaez and Johnathan Caicedo were also there.
Bernal crashed before Giro, so he was focused on Tour. He won it.
Tsantson Kauyi
Nairo was proud of his Muyscan past. It was part of his identity and unknowable.
Kauca is the mother of the forests.
Colombia didn’t find peace yet. The car bomb in Bogota in 2019 is a sign of that.
