Esteban was noticed during a small race in his team colours, where he totally outclassed the opposition, winning by ten minutes on a stage that could barely be described as hilly. It was this style of racing which typified him throughout his career, he lived by the mentality of win big or go home, and he very ended up going home!
The scout introduced himself, and the CACL, as if it was needed, as it was some of the biggest news in cycling, then made his offer. There wasn't exactly much cause for negotiation, so by the end of the day he was registered, and told to make his way to Cali, where he would be met by team representatives.
Whether Esteban knew it or not, he had signed for Eco Petrol Vivo, one of the founding teams of the CACL's top divisions. They had a strong, if not the best squad, featuring several riders who were hoping for good results. However, going into the early season, no one knew what to expect, and for all he knew, or anyone knew, Esteban could be just as likely a flop as a star. In the end his first way season managed to be somewhere in the middle.
Esteban's first race was to be the Tour of Cali, one of the largest cities of Colombia. The race did not take place entirely in Cali, but around the local area, and it featured a mix of big mountain stages and some ones more suited to the fighters of the peleton. It was also one of the first major races of the season, and many of the teams were trying to make their mark early on, hopefully leading to some exciting racing.
Here you can see the provisional profiles of all 6 stages of the Tour.
@Dippo: We'll see
@All: Sorry for the delay, lots of technical problems with the CACL DB, so this is in PCM13 Stage Race mode.
Tour of Cali - Stage 1
All reports of Esteban's racing come from a variety of sources, and of course from contemporary reports. Thankfully, the CACL was the best documented idea of its type in the world, even on a par with the lower levels of cycling. Plenty of images and newspaper articles survive from the time of the League's first race, which Cali had the honour of hosting.
The first stage of Cali was chaotic to say the least. No one, not even the teams knew what state they were in, and as such riders were wary to attack, or to wait for a sprint. Eco Petrol were one of the more organised teams, and knew who their main men were, but not where they ranked against the others, and as such most riders had free reign for stage one.
Esteban went over the top of the final climb first, and tried desperately to make sure he reached the bottom first too. He attacked, and made his move stick, with his lead rising steadily, and looking ever more likely to catch the breakaway.
Soon Esteban found himself relaying with the break, trying to make their 1 minute advantage stick with 22km left. No one had experience of this type of racing, and it was anyone's guess how this would turn out.
Esteban was the first to jump ship as well, as soon as he realised this wasn't going to stick he went alone.
That wasn't enough either though, and with 5km left he was caught by the Avianca train
It wasn't all bad news for the team though, as star sprinter Raul Manuel Arevelo took that stage in style. The old hand showed he still had a kick, even if he never made it to the pro ranks.
Stage 2 was a mountainous stage, if not a mountainous finish. It looked hard but many riders were wary of attacking with the last big climbs so far from the finish.
Esteban put in another attack, unworried by the fact he was forced to ride 30km alone after the last climb. It has been said he wasn't ready for the change in standard, and thought he could decimate opposition like he did before.
In the end the stage went very similarly to the last one, he soon caught the break and began working, trying to allow things to stick.
In the end, it looked like being a two man battle, between Esteban and his last companion, Francisco Pinon.
Esteban was the first to kick off, and it looked for a while like Pinon would not respond.
In the end he did, but it was too late, Eco Petrol had gotten their second victory in as many days, and this time it was for Esteban Mosrambor.
His first stage win also came with the yellow jersey, since he had just about stayed within the peleton the day before.
Many were surprised the youngster had won so quickly after what was such a large step up, but over time people began to realise it was not a one off. Esteban might not have been the strongest but he was one of the smartest and most willing, which gave him a lot of success early on.
