Mauricio Soler: the rookie class; a chapter from the book Colombia on the Tour

Juan Mauricio Soler Hernandez It is another: he walks slowly, he thinks too much to speak, his memory is not the best, it is difficult for him to remember episodes of his life.

It is not the fast and strong cyclist who hit the drags in the most important mountain awards in Europe to destroy the lot and go in search of victory, those who did not return, who were left behind, those who cannot celebrate anymore, the that in order to remember he must resort to video, all because of a brutal accident that had him on the verge of death.

Thank goodness he doesn't remember that June 16, 2011, the day his life changed, when he couldn't avoid a slope on the newly paved road and the front wheel collided, the bicycle lifted and Soler ended up against a wall. . His back crashed hard, the cyclist's body Movistar He fell on the hard cement of the platform and blood began to flow from his head.

The technician, José Luis Saimerena, helped him; The runner's condition was serious, he did not react, medical assistance arrived, they put him in an ambulance and it was decided to transfer him to the nearest hospital. The organization of the Tour of Switzerland called a helicopter, they put Mauricio on the stretcher, he was in a bad state, almost senseless, unconscious.

He reached the ST hospital. Gallen and, at once, to intensive care. That day Soler's cycling life ended and another hard journey began, a day-by-day struggle to overcome physical and mental problems.

Four days before the accident, Juan Mauricio won the stage between Airolo and Crans-Montana, 147 km. He reached that sixth fraction as second overall, escorting the Italian Damiano Cunego, but the illusion of becoming a potential winner of the race remained at kilometer 33 of the day between Tobel-Tägerschen and Triesenberg-Malbun, the place where the dreams of the boy who was born on January 14, 1983 in Ramiriquí (Boyacá) died. ).

Soler Hernández had severe head trauma, a compound fracture of the clavicle and scapula, of seven ribs, of the base of the skull on the left side, he had a blow to the kidney on the same side, compound fracture of the neck of the left foot and fracture of the malar and temporal bone of the cheekbone, serious injuries from which he was eventually saved, but which left him with serious consequences, which are immediately obvious upon seeing him.

He went into an induced coma for 20 days, a respirator kept him alive, he woke up and didn't know where he was, what he was doing in the hospital, he didn't recognize people, he was curious that Patricia Flórez, his wife, whom he had to leave in the hands of her family to Juan Mauricio, her nine-month-old son, because her husband urgently needed her at his bedside in Europe.

He was taken to the hospital Pamplona (Spain), There he improved and on December 20 of that year, Mauricio and Patricia returned to the country with the desire to reunite with their son and celebrate Christmas and
the New Year. Junior, as they call him, did not recognize them and it took him time to tell them mom and dad. When the accident happened, Soler was 28 years old.

Four years earlier, in the 2007 edition of the Tour de France, the son of María del Carmen Hernández and Manuel Antonio Soler made the leap from anonymity to fame.

The day D'

Was part of the team Barloworldfrom the Italian manager Claudio Corti, a squad that was looking for prominence. With a slim build, 1.84 meters tall, the man from Boyacá arrived at the Tour with the goal of showing himself, of working for his leader, also from Boyacá. Felix Cardenasbut he did not respond.

Every morning Corti gathered his runners, they analyzed the route and planned the strategy. At the end of the first eight days of competition, a pain in Mauricio's left foot hit him.

The doctor examined him and concluded that he had tendinitis that prevented him from pedaling. They changed his shoes several times, but the discomfort continued.

On July 17, the day of the Tour was key, the great mountain loomed with the stage between Val-d'Isère and Briançon, of 159 kilometers, with three stops, two out of category and one first class.

Between Telegraph13 kilometers uphill, and the Galibier, Located at kilometer 122 of the day, the stage had to be defined, it was the ideal place to launch a strong attack.

Corti's form said that in the Telegraph Soler would try, but the Colombian did not know if he was going to respond, he had not completely overcome the tendonitis. He accelerated, stood on the pedals and left the group.

Little by little he devoured kilometers, approached the first group that was escaping and passed them by. He reached the top of the Telegraph, negotiated the short descent, a small crossing, and tackled the Galibier, a legendary mountain prize in the Tour, the second ascent that has been crossed the most times in the event (60 times), after the Tourmalet.

It is a climb of 18 kilometers, the summit is 2,642 meters high, with maximum difficulty ramps of 6.9 percent and with Colombian history, since they had won it Francisco Rodríguez (1984), Luis Herrera (1986) and Santiago Botero (2002).

The descent is so complicated that in the 1935 Tour the Spaniard Francisco Cepeda He suffered a serious fall that caused his death and thus the Biscayan became the first cyclist to die in the history of the Tour.

Soler took the curves well, he stopped little on the bike, he didn't move his head, he imposed a sure pace, a devilish pace and caught up with Yaroslav Popovich, Mikel Astarloza and Iván Gutiérrez, who were in the lead.

He didn't stay there for long, they didn't have a chance to agree with the boyacense on an alliance to get more time from the leader's lot. Michael Rasmussenfrom Spanish Alberto counter and from the Australian Cadel Evans, because the Colombian released them meters later.

There were 9 kilometers to go and Juan Mauricio was alone, behind him came the Barloworld car, in which the assistant technician, Va
lerio Tebaldi, gave him directions. The Italian did not stop supporting him, he informed him of the difference he had.

9 kilometers were enough for Soler to gain 2 minutes 05 seconds of distance from those who were for a moment his escape companions and one more minute from Rasmussen's lot, that gave him confidence to face the descent, his headache, the terrain in which he was not an expert.

The finish line was 37 kilometers away, 35 of which were a complicated descent, with tight curves, and the last two were a short climb. He descended calmly, but when he took the final meters he felt cramps, his muscles did not respond, the fatigue was accumulated and the pain returned, but he did not have time to pay attention, the obligation was to pedal to the end, defeat not only the survivors of the Tour , but to poor health.

The lot was close, the best proof that the descent was Soler's pending subject was confirmed when at the finish line the difference with the group of leaders was only 38 seconds.

That day, the Tour had an illustrious visitor. The president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, who was in the race director's car, was a direct witness of what happened, lived and even supported Mauricio to win the day. On the podium, the president shook his hand and told him that he congratulated him.

“I thanked him, but nothing more, the language was a big barrier,” said the Colombian runner.

He spoke with his family, was the protagonist of many interviews and entered the room, rested a little and went down to the dining room.

Corti was waiting for him with the phone in his hand. “Mauricio, Mauricio, quick, come in, it's the president of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe,” the coach told him. Corti remembers that Mauricio spoke for 30 minutes, but the party ended and they had to pedal, since another goal was on the horizon: the mountain. Soler was second, a few points behind Rasmussen, and from then on the idea was to fight for the red points jersey, which Herrera and Botero had already won.

On the day ending at the top of Aubisque, Soler escaped, won the mountain prizes, took over the leadership of the category, displacing Rasmussen, who in the early hours of the next day experienced the worst moment of his life.

Fright

Corti and his boys were getting ready to have breakfast; From one moment to the next, the hotel lobby was invaded by journalists, all eyes were pointed at the Rabobank team, the leader's team, which made the decision to withdraw him from the Tour because he lied about the location of his training sessions, saying that he was in Mexico with his girlfriend, but the reality was that he was in Italy.

He evaded four surprise doping controls, two from his country's Federation and another two from the International Cycling Union (UCI), which is why it was declared positive.

The Tour was scandalized, Soler and his co
mpanions left the hotel and went to the start, at a difficult moment for the credibility of the race, of cycling.

The Tour continued and the Colombian reached the Elysian Fields With the mountain leader's shirt, he climbed to the podium and claimed the title of champion, posing for photos with the Spanish Alberto Contador, who won his first title.

The bicycle he used on that Tour has a special place in the Soler Flórez house, in Ramiriquí, and the red polka dot shirt of the best climber is framed and adorns one of the walls. Juan Mauricio Jr. looks at them and already knows what those two 'trophies' mean in the life of his father.

Today, Mauricio gets up, exercises, he is forced to do so or the venous thrombosis may recur; He walks the 3 kilometers round trip from his house in the town to a small farm that he has on the outskirts, where there is a gym, and when he is strong enough he stays for a while, does a routine and came back. When he's not walking he's been riding his bike for an hour and a half, but not at the speed he came down from Galibier that time.

He showers, gets dressed and goes out. He watches television, reads, but this time he does finish the books he starts, he does it because he spends many hours awake, because he fights with insomnia. He watches cycling and every time he finishes the stage he walks two blocks, arrives at the park and analyzes what happened with his friends.

He stands in front of the monument made in his honor, of recyclable material, a cyclist standing on pedals, at his maximum effort, an action that he repeated many times and that consecrated him towards the Galibier, an image that transports him to that day that he would like remember minute by minute, but unfortunately he cannot.

“The accident left me with that, it cut off my dreams and this is what it is,” he said.

The book

Colombia in the Tour is a series of 16 chronicles of the exploits of Colombian cyclists in the French event. Protagonists like Egan Bernal, Nairo Quintana, Luis Herrera, Fabio Parra and others reveal secrets of their exploits. Today, on pre-sale at https://tienda.eltiempo.com/colombia-en-el-tour