The unstoppable rise of Sergio Higuita, stage winner and new leader of the Tour Colombia

The Education First cyclist crowns a spectacular final of the fourth stage ahead of Egan Bernal and Julian Alaphilippe.

Sergio Higuita is the most notable phenomenon of the last year in world cycling. The cyclist from Medelln, 22, continues his unstoppable rise with the classic compendium of the virtues that forge a champion: strength, cunning, speed and ambition. To this last quality adds another that is less frequent to combine in the same athlete, humility. With it, keep your ears wide open to listen and learn quickly. He has embarked on a path that He started in his Castilla neighborhood, playing cyclist with four or five years, and today he awakens interest, expectation and even anxiety to know where he can take it.

At the moment it is in Santa Rosa de Viterbo wearing the orange jersey leader of the Tour Colombia after honoring the meteorite that a lady of the population found on a nearby hill in 1810 and became a symbol of the place. Higuita has fallen into cycling as a benefactor and percussion in Santa Rosa with a great noise. World Tip: Stop calling it 'Monster' and call it 'Aerolito', which the deed deserves. The Aerolito de Santa Rosa.

HUMILITY

Sergio Higuita's words after his success confirm that he is still a generous boy. “If in El Verjn,” he said in reference to the closing stage, on Sunday, the most demanding arrival, “my colleagues Jonathan (Caicedo) or Dani (Martnez) are better than me, work for them. The important thing is that the team wins. We have a good time gap, but you don't have to trust yourself. The climb to El Verjn does damage due to the height and the wind can blow. We must run with intelligence and calm “. Record that just a year ago debuted in Europe”with the Euskadi Foundation, a Continental team, which gave me the opportunity to share careers with the champions I had seen on television, Nairo, Valverde, Van Avermaet, Alaphilippe … “ On your calendar is the Tour of the Basque Country, surely one of the most you want to run.

Yes, just a year ago an almost unknown Colombian was sprinting him for the second place of the Granada stage of the Tour of Andalusia to Kruijswijk, Adam Yates, Ion Izaguirre. Pello Bilbao … In May I went to Education First and they premiered in the WorldTour with podium (2) in California, a race that this year disappears. In September, remember: triumph in the stage of the Tour of Spain in Becerril de la Sierra.

AGAINST THE BIG MS

His triumphant exhibition was preceded by a superb dance of the most powerful team in the world, the Ineos de Egan Bernal and Richard Carapaz, winners of the Tour and the Tour in 2019. His determination to try to turn around the dire result of his team time trial, the first day, was admirable. In the purest Tour de France style, its five men guided the group at high speed as soon as the rise of Malteras (2,731 m), five kilometers staggered just over eight of the goal in Santa Rosa de Viterbo.

When the Ineos train resists its first two cars, the winner of the Giro started with a sweeping force and developed the leader of the race, his Ecuadorian countryman Jonathan Caicedo. Shortly after, Carapaz was left alone at the tip. A risky maneuver, because after the summit of Malteras three flat kilometers follow each other until the goal. The persecution of the Education First and Julian Alaphilipe brought Bernal to the head and crossed the banner of the port in front of Carapaz and Higuita. Caicedo, evidently, was already working for his Colombian classmates.

ALAPHILIPPE PAYS THE ALTITUDE

The final part saw Carapaz again ahead, Bernal and a Julian Alaphilippe who already sniffed the victory at the stage he had underlined in the road book, which they call here technical. But Higuita appeared and the French force evaporated. He said that at 30 meters he was hit hard by the man in the local deck, 2,760 meters high.

Higuita, Bernal and Alaphilippe crossed in that order the last banner and left behind three quarters of an hour of authentic choral exhibition of their teams. The French Deceuninck had worked before the final fight to finally finish the escape of seven men who paraded ahead in the insubstantial part of the route: Van Empel (Vini Zabu), Corte (Canels), Yustre (Illuminate), Mendoza (Colombia) Tierra de Athletes), Castao (Pride Paisa), Moro (Brazil) and the Swiss based in Colombia, Pellaud (Androni), who replied his escape on Thursday, left half the sentence of the mountain and sentenced He told HIguita: “I am from Martigny, where the World Cup will be running this year. It is made for you”.

IN BERNAL'S HOUSE

The Ineos play to win. The daring was essential if he wanted to erase the 46 seconds of disadvantage that his leaders carried with Caicedo, Higuita and Dani Martnez, the Education First. But it could happen that so much offensive -beautiful offensive- It will increase your losses and so it happened. Now Higuita takes 50 seconds to Bernal and a minute to Carapaz, while Dani Martnez and Caicedo continue completing the virtual podium of Education First.

The penultimate stage of Saturday elapses between Paipa and Zipaquir, the hometown of Egan Bernal. The first half of its 180 and a half kilometers run through the area of ​​the last days. The second part is almost flat and always around 2,600 meters above sea level. After the show of Santa Rosa, you can play 'rest' for the first of the general. But to know …