Winning the Dauphiné Libéré, as that race was called at the time, against such important people as Bernard Hinault, Greg Lemond, Pascal Simon and Stephen Roche, it was something special, very special, that when I remember it, I am transported.
I don’t know if many know that we went to that test for ‘arepa’. In principle, the invitation was for Luis Herrera’s team. I was part of the Leche La Gran Vía group, but the Federation gave us the invitation. Francisco Rodríguez and Fabio Parra were our leaders, but Fabio did not go to France because he forced a lot in the Tour of Colombia.
The group was complemented by Reynel Montoya, Alirio Chizabas, Armando Aristizábal and Pablo Wilches, guided by Marcos Ravelo.
Pacho was the one who walked the best and was the leader of the team. We had to put on different uniforms. They lent us some from Mavic, which were yellow and black, they only gave us one and we had to wash it every day.
The bicycles were the ones used by the cyclists of the Café de Colombia that were stored in Europe. We didn’t have adequate clothing for winter, we had to go to Europe and buy gloves and jackets.
(You can read: ‘Super champions’ became a reality? See the play that is trending in Japan).
Chizabas withdrew and we were left with only five cyclists, while the other groups were nine. Francisco Rodríguez had an incentive, his wife and his son were in the race, something that filled him with confidence.
The day of the queen stage arrived. It was 154 km and between Chambery and Fontanil. Pachó won and left Hinault in second, 3 minutes, 52 seconds, I was 4 minutes, 12 seconds, almost the race was ready for Colombia.
Patrocinio Jiménez and Édgar ‘Condorito’ Corredor ran for the Teka team and they helped us a lot. Sunday July 30 was key. That day Hinault almost attacked from the start. We stayed with Pacho, who wasn’t feeling well. When we realized that the Frenchman was taking flight, we decided to go for him and we left Francisco behind. In one of those the car passed and Ravelo told us that Pacho had retired due to knee problems. We get out of the front. Others went to work. It was raining, it was very cold, there was snow at the end. Marcos told us that the idea was to stick close to them and take advantage of an oversight.
Hinault launched a ferocious attack, he got eight minutes ahead, but the day was treacherous. Later, the French paid for the effort. Ravelo told me that the idea was for him to take time out of Lemond, thinking about the last time trial. I was second overall and Hinault was the partial leader and the goal was to take care of that second place. We didn’t expect anything else.
Going up the last mountain prize there was snow, but I started, with the goal of taking time from Lemond, but I was surprised when Hinault gave the pale. I bumped into it, I saw it wrong and I didn’t hesitate for a moment to go straight. I took it off the wheel, I pedaled with all my soul and at the finish line I took time from it. I took the lead, I took 20 seconds off him in the general classification and there were only two stages left.
The first was an online, 100 km, flat, and the other, a timed climb, which also had downhill and flat. We had no equipment to defend ourselves. The only one who helped me was Pablo Wilches. The rest was not.
(Also: Piqué: this was the hard “party of discord” while he was with Shakira).
They told us that we were chickens, in the lot they told us things about coca…
There were people who did not believe in us. That time was ideal for Hinault, it was his terrain and such a figure, well… I had nothing to lose and I gave it my all. Since there was no technology today, we managed it.
We had no references, that’s why we set up several timing points. The cyclists of the team who retired did it every five kilometers and they were singing to us about the difference with Hinault. On the way up I took 30 seconds, on the way down and on the slopes he discounted me, but in the end I beat him by seven seconds, plus what he had, because I increased him and left him at 27.
We were champions!
During the race we were not treated well. They told us that we were chickens, in the lot they told us things about coca, that was what I understood, but we pretended to be crazy, we didn’t lose focus. The prize was money that we shared among the team. I have in my house the trophy I won and a plaque. I keep them as a treasure. When we arrived in Colombia they put us in a car and we walked down 26th Street. The president was Belisario Betancur.
Remembering today what happened in that time makes me happy. I was the first Colombian to win the Dauphiné, we were not professionals, we were amateurs and we gave the Europeans soup and dry.
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MARTIN RAMIREZ
SPECIAL FOR SPORTS WEATHER
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