First of all, huge thanks to the_hoyle for everything! He made all the graphics for me, I'm really grateful for them!
Spoiler
Story-writing was always a special thing for me. I love making stories, but up until now, my stories were really similar to each other. They were team stories, either with real, or your created riders. Just like Ian did recently with Citigroup, I’d like to try something else too. This time I decided to do a one-rider story with my favourite rider, Sergio Henao. This will be his journey, his story, his feelings. It’ll be formatted as a blog most likely, but it won’t be all about him, he’ll also inform you about his teams results and of course, his cousins.
Team Sky also signed Sebastian Henao, the young cousin of Sergio, who’ll be also featuring in blog entries sometimes, as this story will also concentrate on his career. Just not as much. (as of right now)
Now we got that out of the way, let’s get it started, hope you’ll like it and follow!
18th of December 2012 | 14:21
Sergio Henao, the young colombian climber is planning to write a blog about his career. What can we expect?
The 25-year old colombian opened his own blog, planning to write about the life of a pro cyclist. There were many questioning his decision, but let's ask him about all that! We had an interview recorded with Sergio on the topic and below you can find the whole interview.
CN: Good morning Sergio, are you prepared to answer all the questions? (smiling)
SH: Of course, that's why I'm here!
CN: Sooo, let's get into it straight away. It’s not exactly a common thing in the pro cycling peloton to write a blog. Why did you want to do that? Do you have any specific plans with that?
SH:I think it’s a really good way to interact with my fans, as well as bringing pro cycling closer to fans and I’d like to think that people are interested in my thoughts on cycling.
CN: Weren’t their any problems at Team Sky? Did you talk with Dave [Brailsford] about the blog?
SH: Yeah, I spoke with him and he certainly liked the idea and gave some good ideas on topics to write about.
CN: How often will you update the blog? Is there some kind of a schedule?
SH: No, there is no particular schedule, however I'm planning to update quite often, but it depends on how much free time I have.
CN: Of course, that's understandable. I have only one question left: Is doping going to be a so called "tabu"?
SH: There are no tabus, personally I'm really interested in wattages and stuff like that, I'll certainly look closely at that part of cycling too.
CN: Sounds interesting, good luck with your blog, really looking forward to read it!
SH: Thank you!
Who are you?
I am Sergio Luis Henao Montoya, a 25 year old cyclist at Team Sky.
Where are you from?
From Colombia, Rionegro.
What is your biggest result so far?
I was 5th in Il Lombardia last year, I'd consider that one as best so far.
Who is your best friend? (in the cycling world)
I'd say Rigo Urán and Nairo [Quintana].
Who is your favourite cyclist ever?
Lucho Herrera, he is a real legend. He won the Vuelta in the year I was born.
What do you want to achieve in cycling?
As almost everybody in the pro peloton, I'm dreaming of winning the Tour.
Who will be the next colombian Tour de France winner?
Me. (laughter) Well, probably Nairo [Quintana] has the best chances, as things stand, however I'll certainly try to beat him. (wink)
Bradley Wiggins – Brad is a really outspoking guy, one of the favourites of the media because of his attitude. He won the Tour de France last year, but it seems like, that he’ll go on and focus on the track from now on. However, he still wishes to ride some on the road too in the following years, but he may not try to go for GCs anymore. His main aims will be all the TTs, as well as the ITT World Championship.
Richie Porte – Ritchey is an Aussie guy, really friendly and a really good teammate. He is one of the best riders in the team for higher altitudes and he’ll prove that in the Tour de France, where he’ll be helping Chris to achieve our goals.
Rigoberto Urán – Rigo is an old-time friend of mine, we are living in the same apartment together, in Spain. We’re spending a lot of time together, going out, training and everything. It’s great to have him next to me as a fellow colombian. I can really rely on him, when I need help or have some problems. Did I mention that he is funny too? (He told me to write that line in, so here it is.)
The others are also really nice, and here it a Sky, we’re one big family almost. Eddy, Vasil, Peter or Dombro are all nice guys, the mood is always great inside Team Sky. We're all pretty and classy guys. (haha)
If you want to see more of us (or see the full roster), visit our website: https://www.teamsk...
There is one new addition to the team. My cousin, Sebastian. I asked him to introduce himself. Here we go!
Sebastian Henao – Hey guys, I'm Sebastian! I'll be also coming to you with some posts in the future, I hope Sergio will let me participate. I'm only 20, and my best result so far is a youth jersey in Vuelta a Colombia. I was really happy, when Sky offered me a contract, I'm delighted to join Sergio and Rigo here. See you soon!
Edited by fernando97 on 25-08-2013 17:49
My schedule. I was talking a lot to Dave this week and I'm proud to tell you guys, that I'm able to release the most of my schedule. It's not set in stone, but here is my provisional race schedule:
If everything goes right, I'll start my season in Catalunya, to ride some hills and get into shape. After that, Pais Vasco will be on the menu, as a teaser of what is waiting for me in the Ardennes! It's not sure yet if I'll ride the Ardennes or not, but I'd happy to do it, I feel I could get something nice out of it. Tour de Romandie is on the table as well, although my participation in that race is pretty doubtful. Afterwards, I'll most likely ride the Giro d'Italia! It'd be great to try again after last years great performance, but as I said before, nothing is sure yet! After that I'll probably take a long break to rest a bit after that kind of busy spring.
The second part of my season will most likely focus around the Vuelta a Espana. In order to achieve top fitnes for that race, I'll most likely ride Tour de Pologne and maybe Vuelta a Burgos. After that is totally unpredictable, it'll all depend on my state physically. One thing is sure though: I wouldn't mind riding Il Lombardia, it was a great success for me last year...
Now that you've seen my schedule, you can probably guess which races I'll be peaking for. However, you might not no what I'm aiming for in these races. Let's go through them one-by-one. Volta a Catalunya will be no more than an easy ride for me. Basically a training ride. I will probably help my leader there. In Pais Vasco on the other end, I'll try to go for a decent GC, but it's doubtful that I will have a good fitness. I'll most likely be a co-leader in the Ardennes and in Romandie, I hope to be in good shape and achieve something nice in those races. After that the Italian GT comes, in which I'll most likely ride with Rigo. He'll probably be the leader, but I believe that I'll be allowed to go on my own sometimes. Anyways, it'll be a really interesting race, I think Rigo will be able to compete maybe even for the win in the Giro!
The second part of my season, I'll mostly be leading, I hope. In Pologne and Burgos I hope to get into form for the Vuelta, where Rigo will be helping me to achieve something great in the GC. La Vuelta will no doubt be the most important race of the season for me. After that, it's unknown yet, will inform you, if I get some infos...
Edited by fernando97 on 25-08-2013 17:49
Clauses: §1: Sky ProCycling must let Sergio Henao lead a Grand Tour (barring any injuries), but the choice of the certain Grand Tour is upon Sky ProCycling. §2: If Sergio Henao violates any doping-relared paraghraps in the regulations of UCI and WADA, he is automatically released from his contract.
I'll notify you, if I get offers from Sky or other teams throughout the season. Edited by fernando97 on 26-08-2013 08:42
Yeeeesssssssss!!!!He's my favourite rider right now.This will be one hell of a story.I hope he will win Vuelta or Giro in first year.
Ohhh....you need to edit the part with what he want to achieve in cycling.His biggest dream is to win........Paris-Roubaix =))).Also he is much more appropiate with Quintana than Betancur because he stay with him in Mallorca in the same house.
Edited by romaniangoat on 25-08-2013 14:29