Oscar Sevilla continues to defy the march of time, announcing on his 50th birthday that he has signed up for another year of racing as a professional cyclist.
The Spaniard has spent the past decade racing for Medellin-EPM, one of the leading Colombian teams, and on Tuesday it was announced that partnership would continue through 2027.
"I have received a very special gift," Sevilla said in a social media video.
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"We have reached an agreement to carry on competing for another year with the team. So in the 2027 season I will be racing my bike for the Medellin-EPM team."
Sevilla added that he would represent the team and the city of Medellin "with the same values as always – with motivation, discipline, respect, and admiration for this beautiful sport."
In Colombia, Sevilla found a new home and a new direction in his career amid an exile from the top-level European scene in the wake of his implication in the Operación Puerto doping scandal.
Beyond being fired by his T-Mobile team, Sevilla never faced any criminal or sporting sanctions arising from Operación Puerto, though he did serve a one-year ban after testing positive for Hydroxyethyl Starch during his first year racing in Colombia in 2010. Sevilla has never admitted any culpability regarding the Operación Puerto revelations, and he claimed the Hydroxyethyl Starch was for medical treatment and not performance enhancement.
As recently as this year, Sevilla was caught up in a doping case as his Medellin-EPM team was suspended for 30 days in the spring due to two anti-doping rule violations in the space of 12 moths – Aldemar Reyes and Fabio Duarte being the riders in question.
In any case, Sevilla has enjoyed huge success on the Colombian scene, winning the Vuelta a Colombia three times and the Clásico RCN four times. He has also achieved some notable results while rubbing shoulders with WorldTour pros, placing on the podium of the Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina four times from 2017 to 2020 – in fact, he's officially the winner of the 2018 edition after Gonzalo Najar was stripped of his title for doping offences.
Sevilla was on the podium of the 2020 edition of San Juan behind Remco Evenepoel and Filippo Ganna, and ahead of the newly-crowned world champion, Brandon McNulty. He has also raced regularly on the North American scene, with top-10s at the Tour of the Gila, Joe Martin Stage Race, and, as recently as this year, the Tour de Beauce.
"Colombia has been very good to me. I met my wife here and we have two daughters together – it's the best thing that happened in my life. It's as if destiny brought me here," Sevilla said in an interview with Cyclingnews at the start of 2017.
Almost 10 years on, and now in his 50s, he's still going.
