BY CARLOS RESTREPO

Carlos Restrepo began racing in 1985 in Colombia;  in 1990 he won a gold metal for a points race on the track, and in 1993 he turned pro. Coaching since 1996, he now works at Targetraining in Wesport, Ct, has coached team Comedy Central for two years and works with individual clients in Connetticut and NYC.

Hola a todos

For the past 10 years I’ve been waiting to return to my country to see friends, ex-teammates, and to race the Senior Masters Vuelta a Colombia. After 5 years on and off racing, I was returning to race with the Cafeteros Club in a both a Cafeteros and Targetraining (my sponsor and employer) kit in the masters division for the first time. Eleven years ago I raced as a pro with the Antioquia Team in the Elite Vuelta a Colombia, a 15 stage race with some of the best riders of the world. And now I was aiming for a top 10 finish in the country where I had once raced for 15 years

Senior Masters Vuelta a Colombia is a 7 stage race with one prologue, 5 days on the road, and one final time-trail. There are 5 categories that range from 30 years old to 60 plus. And the course takes riders through 4 states and more than 20 towns in Colombia, during September from the 13th to 19^th. This year, 18 countries participated in the event, with more than 450 cyclist enrolled.

The first day began with a 1.9 km flat prologue, essentially a sprint, and though I was nervous as a non-sprinter, I was happy that I finished in 19^th place out of 112, 11 seconds behind the leader–Jhon Byron Lopez of Giant-Maxxis

On the second day, we raced in the beautifully lush municipality of Guatapé in the Antioquia east, on a rolling circuit—out and back—of 7 kilometers, for 40 minutes with three sharp corners. After one lap just 30 riders were left in the front pack and we stayed together at 30MPH until the final sprint.

Lopez got his 2^nd stage win and kept the jersey.

Tuesday the third day was a rolling course made for sprinters but ex pro Jorge Otalvaro, also of Giant-Maxxis, broke away with 5 km to go, won, and moved up to third overall.

The fourth day of the Vuelta was 100 km stage ending with 2 km climb up the passage Guinea Fowl Rochela, where the heat, asphalt wet from the mountains, and rocks from the cliffs made for an exciting stage. Expectations were high for movement in the GC. For the first 80 km there were a lot of attacks without much consequence for the leaders.

After a short but high speed descent, 20 riders went down, 4 ended up with broken collarbones, 2 riders fractured ribs and many went to the hotel with road rash. I attacked with 1 km to go, Jhon Lopez, Armando Ospina (favorite rider on the GC) and a few others came to my wheel for the final sprint. With 100m to go, I was in 3rd position; at the end I finished 7^th, happy to be done with the hardest and most dangerous stage thus far. This finish gave me 11^th position just 1’ 06” behind first place.

Thursday the fifth day of competition, from Santa Rosa de Cabal to Belalcázar, was the king of the race. With a distance of 96 kilometers and 9 km of ascent to the finish line with some ramps of 12 % slope, the fifth stage destroyed the GC. The final battle began at the base of the climb where the group split.

Ospina made the moment when he attacked, took Jhon Alvarez to his wheel, and left Lopez behind.

Maybe 20 of us chased and shattered up the mountain leaving each rider on his own. My legs felt good but the altitude (at 2000m) made it hard to breathe. I kept my pace steady, passed a few riders, and finished 14^th place, 4 minutes behind Ospina, winner of the stage, putting me in 13^th place.

The penultimate stage of the competition ran east on Friday, a distance of 124 kilometers from Cartago- Zarzal-Cartago, a totally level course that would serve to dissolve the competition for the sprinter’s jersey. With temperatures close to 100 degrees, the group stayed together until Ospina took the final sprint.

On the last day I was hoping to move up on the GC. I had worked on my Time Trail this summer.

20 km total, out and back, the first 10 descending, the return 10 back up. I started in 13^th position with 5’ 19” behind Ospina, but just 1 minute behind 10^th place. Even though I hadn’t raced a 7 day stage since 1998, my legs felt great; apparently my rear wheel did not feel the same. At the turn around, I passed the 2 riders who had started before me, and then my rear wheel went flat. With wheel support only for the riders in 1^st and 2^nd position, I rode my flat and finished 98^th, killing my chance at a top 10 finish.

Ospina smashed the final stage and kept 1^st place.

   1º 101  OSPINA, Armando         COL  TACAMAMOTUL Power Bi     09:55:31

   2º 198  ALVAREZ, Jhon Mario     COL  GIANT MAXXIS/B.Santa   a    01:51

   3º 205  LOPEZ, Jhon Bayron      COL  GIANT MAXXIS/Copa Ca   a    02:46

   4º 138  CASTAÑEDA, Humberto     COL  FERRETALEX             a    03:45

   5º 157  RAMIREZ, Saulo          COL  JB ROPA DEPORTIVA      a    05:33

   6º 102  MORA, Jaime             COL  TACAMAMOTUL Power Bi   a    05:36

   7º 199  ORTIZ, Nilton           COL  GIANT MAXXIS/B.Santa   a    05:50

   8º 174  HERNANDEZ, Jorge        COL  EXP.CARNES J.HERNAND   a    06:22

   9º 153  CHAPARRO, Arsenio       COL  IMP. MURANO-O.MUNERA   a    06:27

  10º 176  MARIN, Ricardo          COL  CON GUSTO PARA Servi   a    06:43

  38º 106  RESTREPO, Carlos Ale.   USA  TARGETRAINING          a    17:25

I had a great time with all my teammates and ex-teamcyclists and coaches.
Thanks to all Cafeteros riders and staff, and to Targetraining, my sponsor; to my wife, Karen Ulrich, for helping me write this.

Carlos Restrepo