The Colombians Are Dominating
 

4 Colombians in the top 10 with several more competing for the top young rider position. It looks as if they are poised to be a dominant force for many years to come. Going off memory, I couldn't recall the Colombians historically being players at all. I Googled up the 2010 results and there was not a Colombian to be found (unless I overlooked one.) It wasn't until 2015 that Colombia had two riders in the top 50. Last year they had the winner and two others in the top 10.

I am interested in how this evolution took place, but I am coming up empty in trying to figure it out. Is there something to be learned from them?

Just talking TdF? Well Urán showed up at the 2009 Tdf and missed being in the top ten for the white jersey by 1 place. He was 52'd for the yellow.

https://www.procyclingstats.com/ride...erto-uran/2009

2006 and 2007 they were getting almost as many wins as in recent years. Maybe not as popular of races and tours.

https://www.procyclingstats.com/nati...&filter=Filter

2009 and 2010 saw Coumbian's taking 1st place in the baby Giro tour.

https://www.procyclingstats.com/ride...sarmiento/2009

https://www.procyclingstats.com/ride...-betancur/2010

I guess I'm not sure what to say. They've been around for a long time. But just not in the one race we all seem to put emphasis on, the TdF.

https://www.procyclingstats.com/nati...&filter=Filter

https://www.procyclingstats.com/nation/co

Yeah, I was thinking TDF. I am not a pro bike racing junkie. I suppose I am like a lot of people in that the Tour tends to get the majority of my attention. To be perfectly honest, I don't know a whole lot about it. My wife and I watched Stage 7. I was surprised to walk into the living room to find her watching it. We talked about all of the races within the race and all of the stories within the race, like how heart breaking it must be for someone like Pinot. I mentioned that the Colombians have been an increasingly dominant force over the past few years and wondered aloud how that has happened.

To be certain, the Columbian's are on a roll. They've got some good talent making themselves known in the races most watched. I'd like to see what it's like when Nairo, Rigo, Bernal and so many others show up at a restaurant or bar in Columbia.

I'm not by any stretch of the imagination fluent in cycling sports. But it is the one that can hold my attention the most. Except for maybe the Americas Cup and some other sailing events.

Please, it is Colombia with two o's no u.

Colombians are crazy for cycling. Anyone who dares to ride a bike in Bogota must have a death wish. And it is full of cyclists. Medellin closes off some roads and people can just jog and cycle on them. Many live at altitude. Great building blocks. Now where did this come from? Is it really an explosion? Well in the 80s you had Colombian riders being very strong. They didn't win the Tour because back then you had crazy long ITTs where they lost far too much time. Bernal would never have won with a longer ITT or even 2, 3 in the Tour. Then you had the 90s and 00s and they lost all their natural advantage to the doping regiments, maybe also some poorer years in terms of talent. But now with the successes of Nairoman and Uran there's a lot of younger riders coming through again.

Was there any kind of coaching, structural, organizational or cultural change that might explain some of their recent success? It seems that going from no riders in 2010 to their current dominating (strong if you don't like the word dominating) presence is more than just happenstance and time trial changes.

Yes, they had Luis Fernando Saldarriaga who coached people like Chaves and Quintana, introduced new training methods. Won two Tour de l'Avenir. Then you had the first successes again and suddenly everyone wanted to be like Nairo and Rigo. Now you have the Manzana-Postobon team again, when in the 1990 Cafe de Colombia team had folded.

fify

I guess the question now is, will the Colombians riders who lost any hopes of the yellow today help their fellow countrymen who are still in contention to help break the Slovenians?

Can't recall a country rivalry like this in a long, long time, especially two smaller countries.

I like it. It makes it interesting. At this point, I don't know how the top two can be unseated. They have been so incredibly strong. Pogacar really impressed me on stage 8 and 9. He showed a certain toughness that I thought Bernal would show yesterday.

Altitude plays an important role. When I was in Ecuador a couple of years ago, I wondered why there weren't more cyclists coming from there. Quito is at 10,000 feet, and it's in a deep VALLEY. The surrounding areas are easily 12,000 and more. Lo and behold, the next year Carapaz surfaced, and I hope we will see more Ecuadorians. They have incredible cardio just going about their lives, and with training.....

Colombia is not quite as high, but it has more cycling infrastructure, better roads, and more wealth.

Hence why they tend to do so well when their national football team has home matches ;)

Does anyone know how to delete a thread? Asking for a friend.

Delete a thread or a post?

I don't think you can on a thread, except for a brief time after initial post the OP might be able to in the advanced edit.

For a post, it's an option in the advanced edit, but not for the thread starting post. I've always felt posts on this type of forum are like face to face conversation. Once you blurt it out it's there. Edits for clarity are okay, but if you said something stupid and are ashamed of it, it's too late. As busy as this forum is, someone already saw it. At most just use the strikethrough and add your new comment and views. IMO of course.

So please let the one you are asking for know.

Iride01 , I think Paul Barnard simply meant that in the end, the colombians didn't dominate at all.

Two in the top 10, 6th and 8th. But the slovenians were 1-2 and there are two Spaniards placing higher also.

Colombians are a VERY important part of the peloton, but this wasn't their year.

Colombians fell apart in week 3. Every, one, of, them.

let's see how they do in the giro and vuelta. more to life than the tdf. sure...lopez fell from 3rd to 6th...not exactly unexpected but he did nab the queen stage of the tdf.
not too shabby for a first tdf. that dani martinez guy won a mad bad mtn stage as well. they'll have a say in things the rest of the racing season.

Oh..... yeah I'm a little dense many times, but I can see that somewhat. I have to hold my head in an odd position and read it out of the corners of my eyes.

I think you are right.