'Heroes of Steel' roars El Espectador. |
Rigoberto Uran, second place in the Giro de Italia. |
This was the first time that a Colombian rider has stood on the podium at the Giro de Italia and Urán, who is only 26, has many years of accomplishment ahead of him - as of course Betancur does as well. It was also, incidentally, the first time in 15 years that an all-Colombian team rode the Giro, one of cycling's Big Three multi-stage races.
Carlos Betancourt, the Giro's best young rider. |
Why this new success? The excellent blog Cycling Inquisition suggests that a dialdown in the doping culture has permitted Colombians, with their natural climbing abilities, to shine. The country also has a generation of good riders and But deeper causes may be Colombia's strengthening economy and improving security situation, which provide more money for cycling and create opportunities for Colombian riders to get contracted by European teams.
Nairo Quintana, winner of this year's Tour of the Basque Country. |
The next big rides are the Tour de France in June and the Vuelta a España in August. It'll be exciting to see what those young Colombians can do!
This chapter of Colombian sports success (Colombia also has a strong shot at making it to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil) makes a refreshing contrast to the country's previous successes in the 1980s and 1990s. Back then, drug money flowed into sports, financing teams, buying bicycles and paying for plane tickets - but also taking a horrible toll in corruption and killings. Drug kingpins like Pablo Escobar (whose brother Roberto was a talented bike racer and who set up a cycling team and bicycle factory) used riders to smuggle drugs, and numerous riders ended up in prison or in early graves. On the soccer/football side, the tragedy of Andrés Escobar still hangs over Colombian football.
By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours
1 comment:
This is a nice blog to follow here: http://www.cyclinginquisition.com/. But you probably knew of it already.
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