thewashingmachinepost




..........................................................................................................................................................................................................

colombia es pasión! matt rendell. weidenfield and nicolson hardback. 340pp illus. £20

colombia es pasion! - matt rendell

"For a few, elite-level sport pays off. For the majority, it is not even an option. It is sink or swim - and most, of course, sink."

world tour cycle racing is a bit like a revolving door, and every time it spins, someone new steps out. just when you (or maybe just me), think you've got the hierarchy sussed, the next season rolls along and all the names have changed. personally, i've given up trying. yes, i read my copy of pro-cycling every month, in an apparently vain attempt to keep myself informed. but, sit me on the pundits' half-time couch during any race you care to mention, and i'd flounder like no-one you've ever seen flounder before.

the heroes of yesteryear almost all originated from mainland europe, predominantly from the countries you'd expect. but more recently, the chaps easing across the finish lines in the grand tours and a smattering of one-day classics, have seemingly travelled a great deal further to join the professional milieu. nairo quintana, fernando gaviria, winner anacona and last year's tour de france champion, egan bernal are all riders in possession of colombian passports, the latter, as far as i'm concerned, having appeared as if from nowhere.

that dave brailsford signed him to a five-year contract when still presiding over team sky (before the jerseys changed to ineos), proves, if nothing else, that i should never be placed in charge of a cycle team.

author matt rendell has written what is likely to become one of 2020's most complete books, one that happens to concentrate on a nation's cycling and cyclists. where most of the genre remain solely concerned with the riders and the racing, matt's deep knowledge of colombia, - its traditions, its history and its social proclivities - offers a narrative that can only be described as three-dimensional in its scope.

perhaps less prevalent in these modern times, cycling was once seen by european aspirants as a means of escaping the very real likelihood of becoming tied to the land. champions such as fausto coppi and gino bartali were sons of the soil, whose abilities on the bicycle freed them from lives of potential hardship, in return for little money. there is a distinct parallel between the latter and the colombian riders who have made it into the world tour. the major difference between the two scenarios is the constant drug-related battles and indiscriminate murders that are still a very real factor in colombian life. yet throughout recent history, enthusiasm for the bicycle and the promise it offers has scarcely waned one iota.

the story of the arrival of colombia's cycling heroes is, dare i say it, the expected part matt rendell's storytelling. what comes as something of a revelation, is the social responsibility displayed by the likes of quintana and bernal. escape from their homeland has not meant leaving it all behind, and that includes holding their national federation to account. when the federation president sought to take credit for the country's recent successes...

"Nairo cut him short: it was clear to him that much of that success had been achieved not thanks to the federation but despite it."

you'd expect top level cyclists of any nationality, to concentrate almost solely upon their careers and families, training and racing being the components of their own particular groundhog days. yet quintana not only became a friend of unicef, but was also named the goodwill ambassador for colombian agriculture, representing colombian produce abroad, to 'develop public policies to improve food production among small farmers'. and his responsibilities scarcely ended there.

"Nairo was scathing about the child hunger. He spoke of a passive government of overweight politicians gorging on dinners while kids were dying of hunger." in itself, that is hardly anything new; the same situation exists in many countries across the world. what is notably different is that a diminutive champion cyclist considers it his duty to try and set the recipe for change.

that colombian cyclists have reached such heights in professional cycling is, in itself, something of a revelation. while sir dave professes faith in his marginal gains, including state-of-the-art nutritional science, measured power outputs, warm-ups and warm downs, even the finest of colombian cycling seems still to adopt coppi's mantra of ride your bike, ride your bike, and ride your bike. granted, the topography of the country is ideal for breeding specialist climbers, but training procedures bear little resemblance to many of those written about in the comic every week.

"...they grew up with...no up-to-date equipment or cutting edge sports science - the expert coaching, nutritional expertise, specialist technology, analytical software or recovery advice...
"In teh face of a collapsing rural economy and diminishing opportunity, the peasant-cyclists of Colombia and Ecuador pursued their own life-projects by dint of unbelievable mental resilience..."

yet, despite stunning research, endless interviews and almost forensic analysis of pertinent races, matt rendell has transcended the 'mere' contents of his book. the writing here is of a standard that he first displayed in his 'the death of marco pantani', and displayed every bit as cogently in his brilliant 'salsa for people who probably shouldn't'. there are many reasons for reading books, and as cyclists, we probably need little persuasion to read anything associated with cycling. however, 'colombia es pasión! should also be read because its author, in my opinion, is one of the finest in his field.

the book features the finest riders to have emerged from colombia in recent years, placed firmly in social, political and historical context. matt rendell describes their early years and emergence as riders of note, and does not shy away from applying his valuable perspective to the drugs problem that has inflicted itself on native colombian cycling, as it has done throughout the sport. it also sports an excellent index at the back.

the current lockdown that affects cyclists and cycling fans across the world, provides the very reading-time many of us usually struggle to find. there can be few better cycling books currently available with which to fill that time, than colombia es pasión!. when competitive cycling does eventually resume, you will be far better informed about its colombian contingent than you are today. it is a south american peloton that has arisen from an indigenous culture that, like many across the world, is now in danger of disappearing.

"Richard Carapaz (winner of the 2019 giro d'italia) said, 'My grandfather tells me things, but he didn't pass them on to my father's generation. The culture has gone now.'
"In a few short years, their world will be lost."

sunday 19 april 2020

twmp ..........................................................................................................................................................................................................