The 2024 World Tour (WT) cycling season is not over, with the Giro de Lombardia and the Gree-Tour of Guangxi still to come, but several have set out to take stock of Colombian cycling in Europe.
According to the criteria of
Most people are saying that the year is bad, that there is a setback compared to the results of previous seasons. If we look at the number of stages, 2023 was much better. Last year, the Colombians, at this point in the season, had achieved seven stage victories: Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Tour and Vuelta a España), Einer Rubio (UAE Tour and Giro d’Italia), Fernando Gaviria (Vuelta a Romandie) Sergio Higuita (Basque Country) and Santiago Buitrago (Giro d’Italia). In 2024, only one victory has been recorded, that of Buitrago in Paris-Nice.
Two important podiums in 2024: Egan Bernal and Daniel Martínez
If we look at the podiums, in 2023 only one was recorded in the WT competitions: Buitrago’s third place in Liège. In 2024, Egan Bernal finished third in the Tour of Catalonia and Daniel Martínez was runner-up in the Giro d’Italia. There are several connotations in this last podium, as it is the first in a Grand Prix after Bernal’s title in the same Italian race in 2021. In addition, it was the debut of the Soacha rider on the podium of one of the three most important competitions on the planet, surpassing what he did in the 2021 Giro, when he was fifth.
“I don’t understand why in Colombia they don’t give the required dimension to that result. As a rider, you give everything for a podium in a Grand Prix, because it’s sensational for the cyclist,” Gilberto Simoni, Giro champion in 2001 and 2003, told EL TIEMPO.
He added: “There are many who have not seen a podium in several years. World cycling has changed and is very limited in terms of the options left by others, in this case, the Slovenian riders Tadej Pogacar and Primoz Roglic, as well as the Dane Jonas Vingegaard. The rest have to fight for what they leave behind and Martínez was there.”
Egan Bernal returned to fight races at the beginning of the year
Bernal had a good first half of the year, creating hope with stage and race victories, and he was very close to achieving it. He returned to being a competitive runner after the accident in January 2022, which almost left him in a wheelchair.
He had not been a protagonist since 2021, when he was third in the Strade Bianche, fourth in Tirreno-Adriatico, won the Giro and was sixth in the Vuelta a España.
Bogotá. September 26, 2024. Interview and portraits with Colombian cyclist Egan Bernal. Photo: Sergio Acero Yate / El Tiempo. Credit: CEET Photographer: SERGIO ACERO YATE
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The following year, no Colombian stood out in any of the Grand Tours, but the titles of Sergio Higuita in the Tour of Catalonia and Martínez in the Basque Country stand out, but they did not appear on the podiums of the Giro, Tour and Vuelta and no rider again aroused the possibility of winning a Grand Tour that year. And it did not happen in 2023 either.
The Ineos team rider created an illusion, as he competed in 10 races, finishing in the top 10 in seven of them, finishing among the top five in five and getting on the podium in Catalonia.
He did not do well at the Tour, there was great expectation, but the back pain returned which prevented him from defending the title of that race in 2020 and he had to undergo surgery, but his year has been very rich in terms of results.
“Look
at Belgium. They were not included for a long time and Remco Evenepoel is there today, but if we compare him to Colombia, he is only one rider and there are generations. In Italy we haven’t won the Giro since 2014 with Vincenzo Nibali and he won the Vuelta in 2014. You won the Giro in 2021, so you have nothing to worry about,” said Danilo di Luca, 2007 Giro champion.
Di Luca says that Colombian cycling does not have to live on memories of the generation of Nairo Quintana, Esteban Chaves, Rigoberto Urán and even Bernal, who won everything.
“This is not a lost year for Colombia. What Martínez did in the Giro and what Bernal did is very valuable, better than in previous years. Here in Italy we are experiencing a tremendous crisis, but in Colombia they must understand that the generation that was winning is not here,” said Di Luca.
The Colombian is second in the overall standings.
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The worst year for Colombian cycling?
Those who say that 2024 has been bad for cycling in the country have as a reference that this year no stages were won in any of the three major championships, a situation that had not happened since 2011. Obviously, it is worth analyzing.
“Several countries have the same problems because Slovenians win. Every year you cannot improve what you did in previous seasons. I think about what the Colombians have done in 2024. Nairo, who is not the same as before; Esteban Chaves, who has already given everything; Rigoberto Urán is retiring and Bernal is trying to recover the path lost due to the accident. Not winning stages in the big races is not so complicated, because they have been protagonists in races like the Giro.” Simoni stressed.
For Bernal, Martínez’s podium saved Colombia’s season.
“He did well and saved the country. For a country that is used to winning Grand Tours, at least one or two stages were won in those races and he always excelled in the big stages. To a certain extent people are right in saying that we did not do well, but we all do what we can,” Egan told EL TIEMPO.
He warned that, despite the efforts, what is done is not valued in the country, while in other places it is.
“Here, winning is the only thing that matters, whereas in other countries Daniel’s second place in the Giro or his performances in races are valued more. We got used to winning in those years with those strong riders, who are still here, but today the story is different. It’s normal for that to happen, for there to come a time when you don’t win what you won before,” Bernal said.
Paula Patiño She is the only Colombian rider in the women’s World Tour and she also has her point of view on what happened in men’s cycling.
“The season in the top category of men, although it has not been the best, demonstrates the talent of our cyclists and their potential on the world circuit. I also highlight that women’s cycling has progressed, it has grown. I see that there is talent in the lower categories in the country,” said Patiño.
‘Invisible’ points for the ranking
Today, cycling is recognised by the points in the International Cycling Union (UCI) ranking. At the end of 2025, the teams that will move down from the World Tour to Pro Team and those that will move
up a category will be announced.
There are Colombian cyclists who have not won stages, who have not been in the spotlight for a while and who have not won overall titles either, but who have been key to their teams in helping them climb the rankings with their points.
One such case is Fernando Gaviria. His last World Tour victory was last year, at the Vuelta a Romandía. He has not celebrated in a Grand Tour since 2019, when he won the Giro, but the 2024 season for the rider from Antioquia has been very good in terms of scoring points.
Fernando Gaviria.
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Today, with the season still in full swing, the sprinter has 715 points for Movistar, of which 365 were earned in the Tour de France and 290 in the Giro d’Italia. And the team is satisfied with the performance of the Colombians, who have not been as prominent as in previous years.
“I want to say that this controversy is not valid in Colombia. I don’t understand it, they were second in the Giro with Daniel and Nairo was close to winning the queen stage, only Pogacar beat him. I speak for the Colombians that I have on the team and with whom we are very satisfied because they have done their job,” said Maximilian Sciandri, one of the sporting directors.
“Nairo had a good Giro and was close to winning the big stage. It is clear that their job was to help Enric Mas to get on the podium in the Vuelta and that is what they did, which is why we have earned UCI points that keep us comfortable in the rankings,” said the Italian coach.
Nairo Quintana, star of stage 12 of the Giro d’Italia
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The issue of points is so important that Astana, a team that is 21st in the league table and that would go to the second division if the cut were made today, has a clear idea.
“Right now we are working with points in mind. If we don’t get the necessary points between the remainder of this season and the next, we will be out of the top 18 in the World Tour and that will be a problem in terms of keeping our sponsors because, once you are no longer guaranteed a presence in the Vuelta, Giro and Tour, you become a B-class team,” the group’s director, Alexander Shefer, told www.relevo.com.
“We think more about points than victory and that even affects the race strategy: you prefer to have two riders in the top five than go for the win and finish second,” said Shefer.
It is clear that making comparisons of 2024 with seasons like 2016, in which the Vuelta a España was won and the Tour de France was reached, with Colombian cyclists is unbalanced, It doesn’t fit, because we already know that from the golden age of Nairo, Chaves, Urán and a bit of Bernal there is little left, almost nothing.
Lisandro Rengifo
Editor of EL TIEMPO
@LisandroAbel
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