Tour de France gallery: Week two

There is now a Colombian TV show about Rigoberto Urán’s life. It is about more than Olympic medals and grand tour podiums, fashion shoots, and appearances in the celebrity pages of newspapers.

Rigoberto’s dad was killed by a paramilitary group three months after he introduced Rigo to cycling. Rigo was 14. All of a sudden, he had to work to support his mom and his sister. He took over his dad’s job, selling lottery tickets to support his family, while going to school and trying to race. He still won a lot.

At 16, it was too much. Rigo told his cycling team that he would either have to turn pro or quit and go back to selling lottery tickets. Technically, he was too young to become a professional. To get around that fact, the team offered his mother the contract. Three years later, Rigo traveled to Europe for the first time to race for a small Italian team.

He has never looked back. An Olympic silver medal and podium finishes at the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France are highlights from his illustrious career. Rigo is still a contender. In 2022, he won stage 17 of the Vuelta, completing his trifecta of stage wins in each of the grand tours, and was a force in the autumn classics.

Rigo continues to inspire his teammates and a whole generation of cyclists with his laid-back, fun-loving approach to the sport.

Alberto Bettiol has always been a winner. He started racing around the hills of Tuscany when he was five and won his second-ever race in his hometown of Castelfiorentino. He has been bringing home bouquets of flowers ever since.

His coaches and supporters always believed in his talent. Alberto was a strong junior and U23 rider, who signed his first professional contract with our team in 2014. But Alberto wanted to become a champion. He had grown up watching the classics and the Giro d’Italia with his father, a former footballer, and dreamed of winning the sport’s greatest races.

In 2019, he won his first Monument. Alberto’s victory in the Tour of Flanders that year changed his life. It gave him the confidence that he could beat the best riders in the world. He backed it up with an impressive string of results, including a stunning solo stage victory at the 2021 Giro d’Italia.

In 2022, Alberto earned podium places on stages of the Tour de France, Tour de Suisse, and Deutschland Tour.

He now splits his time between Lugano, Switzerland and Castelfiorentino. He enjoys all of the opportunities to travel that cycling now provides him, but is always happy to return to the Tuscan hills where he got started.

Alberto started 2023 with a prologue win at the Tour Down Under, but had a tough spring set back by injury and illness and had to miss his favorite classics. He made his return with a strong ride at the Giro d’Italia. He has great ambitions for the Tour de France.

James loves the places that his bike has taken him, the people he has met because of cycling, and the life lessons he’s learned through the sport. But what does he love most about cycling? Racing.

While James has achieved strong results as a GC rider, especially in 2021 at the Tour of Slovenia and the Tour of Norway, his favorite races are the Ardennes Classics. He is also a keen student of cycling history and finds pride and motivation in thinking about the riders who have come before him. James finished his first grand tour at the 2022 Vuelta and is excited for more.

Through the year, he lives in England’s Peak District. When he is home, James resets by taking his dogs for long walks on the moors and riding with old clubmates. His racing and training schedule is very busy, but whenever he has time, James hitches a trailer to his bike and goes bike packing.

Esteban came to cycling through duathlon as a young teenager. His dad registered him for the race and lent him a bike. For Esteban, it was love at first ride. He bought a bike shortly thereafter and hasn’t looked back. Today, the Colombian is one of the strongest riders in the peloton. His racing victories include Il Lombardia, the Giro dell’Emilia, three Giro d’Italia stages, two Vuelta a España stages, and most recently a stage at the 2021 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.

While his results are impressive, Esteban has overcome hardships in his career. As a 22-year-old, he had a crash that nearly ended his career before he even signed his first WorldTour contract. Then in 2018, he was diagnosed with Epstein-Barr virus and chronic sinusitis. Throughout it all, Esteban maintained his warrior spirit and his signature smile.

Riding is about more than racing and achieving results for the Colombian, who is now in his second season with our team. In 2016, he began FUN Chaves, an organization that uses bikes as tools to help children in Colombia realize their dreams. For him, his career as a professional cyclist is proof that dreams do come true and he hopes to inspire others to follow their passions.

Andrey Amador brings experience and climbing prowess to our team. We rely on the strong Costa Rican at key moments of the hardest races and learn all that we can from him. Andrey draws on 14 years of WorldTour experience. He has won a stage of the Giro and worn that race’s leader’s jersey, but above all made his name as a skilled and dedicated teammate, who is always ready to get the hard work done–with a smile.

Andrey has finished 18 grand tours so far during his career and ridden for some of cycling’s great champions, including his close friend and fishing buddy Richard Carapaz.

Andrey and Richie have been teammates ever since they were amateurs. No matter how hard the races get, they can make each other laugh. Andrey is Richie’s right-hand man. He’ll keep him out of the wind and get him water bottles and ride on the front whenever it could turn the race to Richie’s advantage.