Legendary Venezuelan climber José Rujano returns at the age of 42 after four years out of cycling to race next to his son... Again!

Vuelta al Táchira is often one of the very first races at the UCI calendar. The Venezuelan eight-day stage race already wrote many stories and in that aspect, the 2025 edition which took off last Sunday is no different. It's not too often we see riders in family relationship at the start of the same race, but it's almost unthinkable that a father and a son line up to the same race. Well, except over in Venezuela, it is now happening for the second time in the span of four years.

Those who are in the picture already know the word is about José and Jeison Rujano. In particular José Rujano, who will turn 43 in a month, should be a familiar name to long-time cycling fans as the pocket lightweight climber was among the best on the international scene in the first decade of the 21st century, even managing to climb onto the final podium of the 2005 Giro d'Italia.

Now, four years after his last official race (he finished 18th overall in Táchira in 2021), he has decided to take part in the 2025 Vuelta al Táchira, thus putting a number on his back again: "I thought about it a lot and I took on a series of challenges, including losing eight kilos of weight," the rider said, as reported by La Nación. "All with the firm intention of fulfilling my duty to myself and my son Jeison, but above all to tell the world that I can still give something on a bicycle."

Father and son Rujano, in the Venezuelan race, defend the colors of the same team, the amateur Jimm Santos Triple Gordo: "My son learns from me, but I also learn from him," adds the 42-year-old, who has three stage victories at the Giro obtained under the direction of late Gianni Savio.

"With all the technology that exists these days, the preparation of a cyclist is very different from that of my time and so I prepared for this return in a different way than in the past. I hope I will not disappoint anyone, especially my son Jeison."