A biography, as dictionaries say, is the story of a person’s life. The life of Santiago Botero (Medellín, 50 years old) begins like a birth from the moment he got his first bicycle at the age of eight. Then would come the first races, which would mark the first triumphs of Colombian cyclists in Europe. Later followed a turbulent youth, dilemmas and decisions that led him to become one of the most outstanding athletes in the history of Colombia and in the discipline that has brought his country the greatest glory. All the details behind the epic, the suffering and the pain inherent in the bicycle can be found in the just over 300 pages of his book Against the Clock (Grijalbo, 2023).
The book is littered with unpleasant words: torment, martyrdom, suffering, pain, nightmare… What goes through the mind of a person who agrees to dedicate himself to a discipline that involves all these sufferings? “In cycling I have found something that I am good at and that I excel at,” Botero says over a cup of coffee in a hotel in the north of Bogotá. He adds: “When I find the bike, I find recognition. That’s why I cling to her. Then he remembers that he was never an outstanding student, that he didn’t know any other sport, and that he always felt the desire to improve, to face challenges, even (or especially) when the fear was very big.
The beginning of the 1990s was synonymous with a crisis in the family of Santiago Botero. These were his teenage years, marked by parties where he met Pablo Escobar and where he consumed excessive amounts of alcohol, in a hostile environment like Medellín at the time of the drug trafficking bombings. When one of them exploded, half of his house was destroyed. Shortly afterwards, his family, which came from a wealthy class, fell into financial bankruptcy. For Botero, the bicycle was like an outlet: it kept him away from excesses, and when he started winning prizes, he could use the money he received to treat himself to something his family could no longer afford. “Deep down, it was the joy of cycling and my self-esteem, coupled with that economic incentive, that got me into this mess,” he admits.
Botero at the Cosmos 100 Hotel, on September 12th. Diego Cuevas
Some good headlines in the regional press after the triumphs, coupled with the impulse of a doctor who saw a miracle in him, led to Santiago Botero ending up in the Kelme team in Spain in 1996. Newly arrived, without much professional experience, nor a training plan, a serious employment contract, organized documents or favorable payments, he felt like a zero on the left. It was a fight for survival. His main advantage was shyness and introspection. “I didn’t mind driving alone for eight or nine hours,” he says. In the end, however, he confirmed first-hand the words that his fellow cyclist Óscar de Jesús Vargas had said to him with paisa confidence in his tone: “This is a sport in which you have to translate your effort into action.”
The fact that he pushed his body to its limits in every competition had the predictable consequence that he was destroyed in the end. For this reason, in the book he recalls what the questionnaire looked like when consulting with a general practitioner:
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-Do you feel any pain? Daily.
-Where? Legs, back, all over the body.
-Suffocation? When I drive very fast.
“Dizziness?” Apparently at the end of an intense effort.
-Fatigue? Certainly, always.
-Dream? A lot.
-Blurred vision? Only in hypoglycemia.
-Tachycardia? Yes, it is accompanied by a feeling of suffocation and dizziness.
Since then, Botero has wondered how healthy the sport is at this level of competition. Today he has a clear answer: “No, that’s not healthy.” His exercise is healthy at a leisure level, but without excesses. Going out every 8 or 15 days to run 200 kilometers is not healthy.” However, he does not believe that this is a problem that only affects cycling: he believes the same thing happens in football and tennis. “What happens is that cycling brings with it the whole explosive combination of being outdoors, cold, heat, rain, pavements and cars. “Everything against it.” However, he is aware that this pleases the audience, the brands and the athletes themselves.
Living on the edge and suffering pain every day receives its greatest reward in triumphs. The most famous began to populate Santiago Botero’s record at the beginning of the century: several stages in the Vuelta a España and the Tour de France – three in total, which brought him to the level of Lucho Herrera, the archetype of the beetle, of them and defeated the one at that time almighty Lance Armstrong. But above all the 2002 world time trial in Zolder (Belgium), which confirmed his most obvious atypicality: he was a time trialist who came from a country of mountaineers. The celebration of these great triumphs was just as intense then as it is today: “Because it is so difficult and sacrificial and you have to overcome fears and anxieties, when you achieve victory it is like touching heaven.”
Cycling in Colombia and short-termism
Far from the opinions that there is a crisis in Colombian cycling today due to a lack of riders taking part in the big races, Botero believes that the real downturn came when he was still active. “There was a time when I was the only representative of the country on the tour.” However, there are now several cyclists who stand out. “That’s very difficult. Saying you’re taking part in a race today is very complex. Not that he wins, but that he gives the impression that he is on the run and competing on the stage.”
Although there is no crisis, he believes that federations in Colombia cannot neglect the training of aspiring cyclists. “Here they want immediate results, from runners to technicians, in order to maintain sponsorships that are short-term here, for a maximum of a year.” He assures that there are young people who end up becoming mercenaries and get paid for it compete and then disappear and return to another competition the following year. “It’s very difficult. This is a sport of repetition, of getting to know each other, and the only way is to remain constant. “This creates a process.”
Santiago Botero on September 12th in Bogotá. Diego Cuevas
As an example, he cites the case of the Jumbo Visma team, whose ranks include such outstanding cyclists as Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard. “They arrived, at first they did not have great results and little by little they revealed the talent of the cyclist, with nutritional problems, etc.” For this reason, the need for support is emphasized, far from immediate results. “Here it is very difficult to say that a runner is kept in a glass urn, as was the case in Spain with Alejandro Valverde or Alberto Contador, who were the crown jewels.” He remembers knowing from a young age what his fate was. “The important thing here is to discover the piece of jewelry and know how to wear it. But we are very immediate.”
An inhumane sport
According to Botero, the current demands in cycling are making it increasingly difficult to stand out. And besides, it makes the fight fierce in every phase. “It doesn’t matter if they bring the other guy down if it’s the five-time winner of the Tour. This is no longer valid. Before it was respected. Cycling is at a level that represents an inhuman struggle.” Cyclists are becoming more and more complete and even those who previously only dedicated themselves to climbing are competing for backpacks. Added to this competitiveness is the pressure to run not only for yourself but also for the people and to take responsibility for what they say or do. “It makes the whole system more sophisticated and competitive and stressful.”
The exhaustion caused by this pressure explains why there are cyclists who earn well and have very cheap contracts and retire without being veterans, as was the case with the Dutchman Tom Dumoulin or the German Marcel Kittel. And he also explains how Botero feels about his sport today: “Today I enjoy cycling more than when I was a professional.” With his friends, with laughter, not without suffering (“When I climb mountains, I like to exercise “on”), but far away from constraints. “I enjoy more the solitude, freedom, independence, where no one questions you or makes fun of you, no one will point the finger at you.”
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