You have no doubt heard about my little court case. Fortunately enough, justice prevailed, and I am back in a (relatively) stress-free environment. As soon as court was dismissed in Italy, I met the team in the French Alps for a training camp. Here are some pictures from the trip.

Thibaut Pinot


John Darwin Atapuma


Esteban Chaves




Fabio Melani


Virgilijus Grazhys




Jorge Montenegro


Alec Diluca


Jagoba Aurrekoetxea

The first breakaway of the new season. Vansummeren, Servilli and Juul-Jensen were the attackers.


I had a free pass to take it easy today, but the sprint train was doing a lot of work. Neo-pro Dokman was really impressing everyone by getting our train to the front. However, we were boxed into the wall, and our sprinters went early to give themselves as much chance as possible of getting through.


Too early... Team Stolting moved out and gave us room, but it was too late, the boys couldn't stop now.


Montenegro had the lead with 1km left to go, but despite the home fans cheering him on louder than I thought was possible, he was fading fast, and others were coming quickly.


Eventually he faded to 6th, with Rick Zabel taking the first stage of the year. Diluca also managed a 9th in his first professional race.

Another flat stage, and this one is a bit hillier so it should suit Alec. Hopefully we can do a bit better than yesterday.

Dowsett, Lutsenko and Berard were riding into the sun as the break of the day.


It was the Frenchman who would take the King of the Mountains jersey tomorrow.


As the break got a bit far, Torres started to pace. However, the more devastating effect of this was that he created a group of 16 formed ahead of the peloton. Only the unfit Chaves was absent from our team, while Alejandro Valverde was a noticeable absentee as well.


Dokman went to the front to pace for the train, and pulled out a monster effort to close down 2 minutes on the break.


As the sprint started it was us versus Zabel. However, it seemed like it would be for 2nd place as Berard was holding an advantage. His companions had been brought back 1.5km out.


But in fact they were racing for the win, and while Diluca faltered with his acceleration, Montenegro mounted an incredible comeback to take a narrow win!


The first Colombia win of the season! Hopefully many will follow.


The win also had positive connotations for my aims, as I was pretty much the only GC rider who made the jump away. I also grabbed 10th place.


The roar was tremendous as a home rider accepted the flowers and kisses. Congratulations to my compatriot and teammate! Rene Dokman also deserves some credit; he has shown that he will be an extraordinary domestique for us. We must also remember the effort of Christian Torres which brought about the split.

Finally a stage for me. If all goes well I can continue bringing joy to the home fans.




Marque, Sella and Amorison went in the break, but the latter was dropped quickly.


I went up to take the remaining points at the Cat. 1 climb. I always like to be prepared for a KoM classification battle. The yellow jersey was also dropped by this point.


Montenegro also managed to take the point on offer at the 2nd Intermediate Sprint.


I started to pull away from the pack with Esteban at 7km to go. The break still had a minute.


Unfortunately his lack of fitness meant that he wasn't there when the real climbing started. However, my pre-season training had payed off, and I was tearing the peloton to shreds.


Frank Schleck could only get close with an attack, which completely emptied his tank. It seemed a bit too far to catch the break.


I almost caught Marque, but he found a second wind. I took third place, and was hoping the yellow jersey.


Yes! I was humbled by the cheers of the home fans, many of which had flocked to see me in particular. It was now a mission of keeping yellow. It will be hard, but with the home support I know I can do it!

Rene reported feeling unwell after Stage 2. We thought that it was just due to overworking, so he was given a relaxed role on Stage 3. He decided after this that his headaches were too much, he wanted to withdraw. Rene will race the Stage 4 time trial and then probably withdraw from the race.

A down then up time trial which will exercise patience and give me a chance to prove my TT skills.




The home fans flocked to see their home town hero. I didn't want to disappoint.


I was 39th at the check, but I had saved something for the hill.


And I crossed the line 1'05 back in 14th. I would wear yellow for the Queen Stage.

The Queen Stage. As you can see I still lead the GC. I've been getting better at mountain climbing, as you know, so hopefully I can do this.




Puccio, Ricci Bitti and Riblon went in the break of the day. A strong combination.


Fast forward, and on the climb, Alec was helping me, and Chris helped Esteban.


I sent Alec to get water, and when he couldn't get up, I went down to take it from him. Bad decision...


But I was ok! I recovered, and went over the climb first ahead of Laurent Didier.


I seemed to have more energy too. I went away on the flat, and got into TT mode.


I remembered my other two races here. The winners of this stage needed oxygen supplements. They collapsed. They couldn't breathe. I entered the town of La Carolina, and got out of my saddle. I still had energy: I was now focused on gaining as much time as possible.


But a few hundred metres later I stopped to enjoy the moment, and let it all sink in. The locals had seen their national hero, the one who had increased the popularity of cycling in a country dominated by football. Our lovely sport still had a way to go, but these were the moments to treasure. My first win of the season, and my first ever on home soil as a professional.

The last GC stage. All I have to do is stay with everyone.

A large breakaway of 9 went away. They had a chance.


And they did end up winning it, but there were problems behind. I had missed the attacks...


Roche had the lead, while I was trying desperately to catch up.


The Irishman won it from the peloton, but would he take the yellow jersey?


The team tried desperately to get me back up, and we waited nervously for the results...

And Roche won it! I had a good run, but some bad tactics had cut short my dream. I was unable to bring more joy to my home fans, but it is now time to work for the sprinters and end on a high.