South American Pro Continental team, Colombia Coldeportes, were encouraged yesterday by the unveiling of the route for the 100th Tour de France. The generally hilly route will suit the team packed with climbers and General Manager Claudio Corti made no bones about hopefully being invited to the event.
“The route is great, everything seems in place for a great show,” Corti said. “Four uphill finishes and plenty of other big mountains will give climbers the chance to shine, and ‘grimpeurs’ like ours could play a big part in 2013 Tour’s plot. Should we be at the start in Corsica, we will go for every opportunity.”
Some of the highlights to come from the 2013 edition include Mont Ventoux and the double ascent of Alpe d’Huez in one day. Last year’s Tour de l'Avenir winner Esteban Chaves is part of the team and says riding the race would be a dream come true.
“The 18th stage features two climbs up the Alpe d’Huez, one of the mythical climbs of the Tour de France,” said Chaves. “The stage is not very long (168 km), but it will definitely be long and testing, coming in the final part of the race: I dream of taking part to this race, hopefully we will manage to deserve ASO’s trust.”
Chaves has shown a lot of promise and is one of the next great hopes from Colombia. This year has been a good one for the 22 year old who won GP Città di Camaiore and a stage at Vuelta Ciclista a Burgos.
The team’s most well known rider is former under 23 world champion, Fabio Duarte. He finished second on stage five of the Giro d’Italia last year and boasts two victories this season. He won Coppa Sabatini and finished fifth in the Tour of California.
The last Colombian to win a stage at the Tour de France was Mauricio Soler while riding for Barloworld in 2007. He also went on to win the King of the Mountains prize. Corti was the manager of the team at the time.
Soler unfortunately retired from the sport this year, having crashed heavily in the 2011 Tour de Suisse and suffering a brain injury. However his compatriots are ready to try to fill his shoes, and are hoping that the Tour de France organisers will see things the same way.