These are uneasy times for Colombian cycling. The tentative hope engendered by Egan Bernal's comeback from career-threatening injury is tempered by the sullied reputations of Nairo Quintana and Miguel Angel López, both currently banished from cycling's top table.
The ongoing absence of the Tour Colombia from the calendar has only heightened the sense that the country's gilded age of the past decade could be about to give way to a fallow period, just as the halcyon era of Herrera and Parra in the 1980s was followed by a generation of riders who travelled to Europe largely condemned to serve rather than to lead.
Although rumours of Quintana's imminent retirement have proved premature for now, his options are limited after he was disqualified from last year's Tour de France following two positive tests for the painkiller tramadol. His situation, as El País pointed out this week, is "a symptom of the malaise afflicting Colombian cycling."
Yet while the very different travails of Bernal, Quintana and López have dominated thoughts and headlines during the off-season, there remain some bright spots amid the gloom, including national champion Sergio Higuita, who quietly enjoyed a career-best year in his debut campaign with Bora-Hansgrohe in 2022.
Higuita turned professional in 2019, emerging as part of a new wave of Colombian riders born in the late 1990s that included Bernal, Daniel Martínez and Ivan Sosa. Speaking to Cyclingnews at the Vuelta a San Juan this week, Higuita appealed for calm, pointing out that he and his contemporaries in the Bernal generation still hoped to race on for a decade or more.
"We need to stay calm. I think people are anxious at the moment because they want Colombian cycling to keep achieving like it has done in recent years," Higuita said. "But we have to look at countries like France, for example, where they haven't won the Tour de France for many years. Meanwhile, Slovenia is a country that didn't have a big history, but it's very successful now.
"It means that the general level of world cycling is very high now, so you need to have a bit of patience. The most important thing in Colombia is that we keep on developing young cyclists. That's the key."
The problem, of course, is that relatively few of the Colombian riders to reach the WorldTour since Higuita have made anything like the same impact. The 25-year-old, like Quintana, raced under the tutelage of Luis Fernando Saldarriaga in Colombia before moving gradually towards the WorldTour. He spent six months at Continental level with Euskaltel before joining EF midway through 2019.
The demise of the Manzana-Postobon team due to repeated doping cases brought an end to what was arguably Colombia's most development-focused outfit, while Higuita believes the recent trend of WorldTour teams plucking riders directly from the junior ranks has also played against Colombian riders' integration into the European peloton.
"It's complicated because European cycling is different to what we're used to," Higuita said. "In one way, it's a bit easier these days, because European teams want more and more Colombian riders. But it's also very difficult at the same time because they want young Colombian riders to arrive in Europe and perform at a very high level immediately.
"WorldTour teams are now signing very young riders, who are maybe skipping under-23 level altogether, and that doesn't necessarily suit Colombian riders. For riders like Egan, Dani and me, when we came to Europe first, we raced at Continental or ProContinental level before going to the WorldTour.
"I think it's something WorldTour managers need to think about, like Jonathan Vaughters did with me, for example. He had me ride for six months with Euskaltel to adapt to European racing before I moved on to EF. I think an adaptation period like that is necessary for Colombian riders, because we're coming into a new culture, and that's not easy."
Grand Tour plans
Higuita had few problems with adaptation in 2022 when he joined Bora-Hansgrohe from EF. A fine campaign started with a second Colombian road title, and the Medellín native got off the mark in Europe with victory on the final day of the Volta ao Algarve shortly afterwards.
He went on to win the Volta a Catalunya and place second at the Tour de Suisse, while also picking up stage wins at the Tour de Romandie and Tour de Pologne. For good measure, Higuita was in the top five at both Il Lombardia and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The lone disappointment was a relatively subdued display at the Vuelta a España, his only Grand Tour of the season.
"In every race, I was competing at a maximum level, but that wears you down and my performance suffered a bit in the Vuelta a España," Higuita said. "This year, I'm looking at how I can manage things better and get to the Grand Tours in a better physical state – less tired and able to fight for a stage win."
Higuita has yet to decide between the Tour de France and Vuelta this year, though he ruled out the Giro given his busy spring, where he will again look to strike in week-long races and then hold that form through to the Ardennes Classics.
"I want to be on some podiums in shorter stage races and I want to be up there in the Ardennes too," said Higuita, who suggested that targeting general classification over three weeks remains beyond him for now.
"In the future perhaps, but I've been missing a bit for the Grand Tours up to now. When I do them, I often get tired or ill, so I need my body to adapt a bit more to get used to the demands of racing for three weeks."
The dimensions of the Vuelta a San Juan are more to Higuita's liking at this stage in his development, and he remains firmly in contention for overall victory ahead of Friday's pivotal ascent to Alto Colorado. He begins stage 5 on the same time as Remco Evenepoel, Bernal and López, and he knows that the day's winner is likely to claim the overall title too.
"On Friday, we'll see how the legs are when it's more of a mano a mano between the climbers," said Higuita, who will then seek to defend his national title in Bucaramanga next week. "I'll try to keep the jersey, but the most important thing for me is to enjoy the race and to put on a show for the people."
