Edwin avila was part of Team Illuminate, a cycling squad that was looking for it to have good riders and promote them. One of his colleagues approached him in December 2016, spoke in his ear and told him to tell him what it was like Colombia.
And, of course, the Bogota-born, two-time world track champion, began his story: he told him about the variety of climates, fauna, flora, the ideal altitude condition for the preparation of cyclists, the feeding of the different areas and made an X-ray of the routes that he normally trained in Cundinamarca.
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Ready, the talk was there. At that time, Ávila lived in Sopó, 40 minutes from Bogotá, but what he did not expect was the proposal that his partner, the Swiss, was going to make him. Simon Pellaud, who days later told him that if he received him at home, that he wanted to come to Colombia and meet.
Edwin saw no problem, because he was always a cyclist who showed interest in helping others, thanks to his human qualities and the joy he wasted in concentrations, training sessions and races.
Pellaud did not care about the time. That December he spent Christmas with his family in his country and on the 30th of that month he took a plane and landed in Bogotá. Ávila took him home and that day an adventure began for the 29-year-old runner, who was not looking for his future, but wanted to experience new sensations.
The few days that Pellaud wanted to get away from the harsh European winter turned into weeks. A month and a half later he had to return to Switzerland, but he did so under obligation.
In one of the exits he fell, broke his elbow and boarded a plane back to his country, arrived and immediately went to the clinic, underwent surgery, went home, but began to miss Colombia, a country from which fell madly in love, and vowed to return.
“I always wanted to go back. During recovery I thought about it and made the decision. The second time in Colombia was not in Sopó, I went to live in Cali, I witnessed the whale watching in the Pacific and that filled me, it confirmed that the idea of coming to live was not crazy, “Pellaud told TIME.
That 2017 he ran the Vuelta a Colombia. He was two hours, 4 minutes and 45 seconds behind the champion, Aristóbulo Cala, but he had already made his investment, to learn more about a nation that has given him everything. That edition came out of the department of Antioquia, the first stage was a team time trial between Rionegro and La Ceja, and Pellaud was fascinated with the customs.
Country house
The Swiss cyclist met Mauricio Ardila, a former Colombian cyclist who fought battles in Europe. He raced the Giro d’Italia eight times, the Vuelta a España six times and lives in Antioquia. There it has a kind of high performance center, ideal for cycling and sports.
“Ardila is like a father to me in Colombia. I fell more in love with the country, with that region, with the paisas and I stayed to live in Santa Elena, where I currently have my home, ”said Pellaud, who was born on November 8, 1992 in Martigny (Switzerland).
Simon became a cyclist by inheritance. His grandfather rode a bicycle, competed in various races as an amateur, but never became a professional. Didier, his father, did too, made the bicycle his means of transport and reveled in the competitions of the region.
He gave his son for those, but he started on the heavy machine, that of mountain biking, in the middle of the mud, the dust, the uncovered roads, the dangerous descents and the hard ascents.
He found a group in his hometown and began dating more people. His family encouraged him. Corina, his mother, and Licile, his sister, who already has a son, supported him, and he felt that it was like a family commitment because of the background issue.
In Colombia, people, with little, are capable of sharing with everyone, even with foreigners, whom they do not know well ”.
Of course, he never left aside the study. He said that he was a good student, he did not stand out, but he passed every year, he never lost one, he did not fall behind, and that he liked being in the street playing with friends, riding a bicycle. Once he graduated, he studied commerce, a career he said he can pursue once he hangs up the bike.
Outside the classroom he has learned, not only has he become an expert in food and vegetation, but thanks to cycling he speaks five languages: Spanish, English, French, Italian and German. He says that it was very hard for him to get to where he is, with the option, once again, of being a runner on the World Tour, the highest category in cycling, today with Trek, since before he did it with IAM Cycling.
Pellaud knows that he is not an Egan Bernal, nor a Tadej Pogacar, much less a Primoz Roglic, he is sincere and, without mincing words, he says that he does not have their talent, but he does have a big and warrior heart to have reached up to where is it.
“It was hard for me, training, doing a lot of bottom to reach a level that would help me earn a place in a ProTeam or World Tour squad. When you have the qualities of the greats, it is for someone ‘easier’ to get there, but when not, it is time to fight it, and that last was what happened to me ”, he said.
In his resume it appears that on four occasions he has run in tests of the big calls, of three weeks: Vuelta a España (2015 and 2016) and in the Giro d’Italia (202 and 2021), but that first incursion in Spain was the one that matured it.
He finished in 119th place, but for him it was as if he had been the champion, he warns that having overcome those three tough weeks was key to continue, to say that he could be a cyclist for the higher categories.
When he settled in Colombia it was not easy. Sure, he was delighted by the routes, the food, the landscape, but he had to change his training chip, the demands of the altitude and the long ascents made him change his plan, but he easily adapted.
“That’s why I have a good level, because of that demand that I made here. The issue was that I never had a level of demand like this, because I always competed at lower levels, in races in the United States and in Asia, but not in Europe, that’s why it cost me so much, “he recalled.
Goals for 2022
His girlfriend is called Susana. He met her when he was training around the Arví park, near Medellín. Pellaud came to a store and saw her, spoke to her, started a friendship and then they were dating.
She and Camilo Castiblanco, another Colombian cyclist and friend, got her the cabin where she lives.
“Something important is that I fell in love with the country, with the relationship with friends, with my girlfriend, that was key to making the radical decision to stay. I am not criticizing anything, the Swiss is a bit sad, he has everything he needs, but he is not satisfied with what he has. Here people, with little, are capable of sharing with everyone, even with foreigners, whom they do not know well ”, he declared.
And he added: “Castiblanco had a great gesture with me. I had no place to stay and he gave me the keys to his car and his house so that I could stay, that does not exist in Europe, that filled me up too much, that confidence is not seen there ”.
As a child he watched the big competitions on television and when he became a cyclist, running alongside his idols was fantastic for him. Simon Pellaud admires Paolo Bettini, the Italian ex-cyclist who won twice the world title and who prevailed in classics such as Liege Bastonia Liege, Milan-San Remo and twice the Giro de Lombardia.
“In one of those victories in Lombardy, Bettini was not well, a brother had died shortly before, but his honor was very great, in the midst of sadness he won. I saw him cry for his brother, for the victory, he was out of class, “said Pellaud.
For living in Colombia, for racing in Europe, because he has rubbed shoulders with the best of the peloton. He says that Esteban Chaves is another of the personalities he admires. Not only because of the results he has achieved, but because, for Pellaud, he has a very big heart.
“I have a good relationship with him, he is a magnificent person, he is one of my idols for what he has done in cycling, but I admire his humanity, what he does with his foundation, he helps children with cleft lip, well, he is a great being, ”he declared.
Life has put him in front of a great opportunity, to return to the World Tour, to have the option to compete in the Giro, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España excite him. Trek is a team that lacks a great leader, so Pellaud sees a huge opportunity to appear this season.
I will have the opportunity to look for my races, the stages, the escapes, always with the philosophy of being part of aggressive cycling. “
“We have a great team, there is no leader, but there are riders with a level. Giulio Ciccone will go through the Giro and the Tour, Bauke Mollema is our man in the classics, I will have the opportunity to look for my races, the stages, the escapes, always with the philosophy of being part of aggressive, offensive cycling, I will seek that, and win a day on a grand tour is my goal ”, he concluded.
The story of Simon Pellaud can be one of many that can be told, that of foreigners who have come to the country and stayed, but the clear thing is that few cyclists, counted on the fingers of one hand, have done that, land in South America, fall in love with customs and settle in a region without caring about its future.
For him, being away from his family is not easy, he loves them, but tranquility prevails, the happiness of an environment that welcomed him, that gave him affection, of a country that admires him, a luck that few have had and with the that he is eternally grateful, because what would have happened to him if Edwin Ávila told him that he could not receive him at home?
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Lisandro Rengifo
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@lisandroabel
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