Mountain goat

Maybe it´s because Bogota is at 8,000+ feet, or maybe it´s because cycling is the next most popular sport to soccer. For whatever reasons, Colombians have a reputation for being really good climbers on the saddle. Proudly, that reputation has recently been boosted by Mauricio Soler, a young (only 24!), rider who seemed to many to come out of nowhere and win the King of the Mountain polka dot jersey in this year´s Tour de France.

So perhaps it should come as no surprise to anyone that Soler won today´s 150km stage of the Vuelta a Burgos, which has a tough mountain-top finish. What did surprise me, though, is that Soler and his Barloworld team are staying at a hotel about two blocks from where I am. So I went in that direction, and soon thereafter I ran into the team mechanic who was washing bikes outside. He told me that Soler was on the way, and not 10 minutes later he appeared. His lanky frame showed fatigue, but despite that I asked for a photo, which he gladly posed for. I told him he made Colombians proud, to which he smiled, and said that he was happy people cared. Then he said he needed to go rest up. Now in the race lead, he´s got some work to do in the next few days.