Rigoberto Urán has been warning for some time: Colombian cycling has dropped in level. Riders like Einer Rubio, stage winner in the last Giro d'Italia, want to prove him wrong. However, seeing the performance of South Americans in the recently concluded Tour de France, it is difficult not to agree with Rigo. It is the first time since 2014 that no Colombian has finished in the top 30 overall;
It hurts a lot that two world-class riders like Miguel Angel Lopez and Nairo Quintana, for different reasons, are not racing in Europe and have not been able to race the Gallic round. A total of five Colombian riders have participated in the Tour de France 2023 and the only one who passes for us is Egan Bernal. Here is our analysis:
Egan Bernal (Notable).
Fantastic that the 2019 Tour de France winner, after nearly losing his life early last year, has recovered for elite cycling. After a great work in May he earned a spot in INEOS for the Grande Boucle and has managed to finish it. The first week he was at a great level helping Carlos Rodriguez in the general classification until almost the end in hard stages. Then, little by little he faded, but he was still important for his teammates until the end and, despite a hard crash, he managed to finish;
Daniel Martínez (disappointing).
He had the bad luck to have a physical problem that made him retire without riding stage 15, but until then he had done nothing. He fulfilled what was expected of him given his dismal season: he contributed very little. He was seventh in Laruns in the stage won by Jai Hindley, but he did it by arriving with the group of the favourites and not with the escapees. Nothing more to contribute to his Tour: no help to Rodriguez or Pidcock and no real chance of winning any stage;
Harold Tejada (disappointing).
Like the rest of his Astana team, very little. Mark Cavendish's retirement after a crash left them almost out of options and Tejada was one of the few options they had to do some damage in a mountain stage, but he failed to do any damage in any breakaway;
Rigoberto Urán (disappointing).
We have enjoyed his videos on social networks, but little else. Rigo has not had that pedal stroke that makes him a decisive rider in the grand tours. He hasn't been able to replace Richard Carapaz as EF Education's leader when he left, nor has he been able to be dangerous in the breakaways as he did in the last Vuelta a España. He is far from the best Rigo;
Esteban Chaves (unqualified).
The Colombian who came closest to winning a stage. He finished fifth in the Issoire stage, which was won by Pello Bilbao. He was very active that day and only lacked some strength to be with the best. We don't rate him because he retired on stage 14 and we don't know what he could have done, although we sincerely don't think he would have been able to win a stage with the tough competition;
It's amazing to see @Eganbernal racing on the streets of Paris once again 😍 #TDF2023
🗣️ “I was so happy. So emotional.” @Eganbernal describes what it means for him to get to Paris, and talks us through what he calls ‘the hardest stage of the Tour’ 🎥 #TDF2023
