EFE · Road Competition · 02/09/2021
Climber Diego Andrs Camargo Pineda, one of the new jewels of Colombian cycling, considers that this 2021 will be one of learning and that therefore his job will be to support his teammates, but that his goal is to contest the title of the Tour de France in about two or three years.
“I think that in two or three years I must be there looking to make the dream of winning the Tour of Francia“says Camargo, 22, in a telephone interview with Efe.
The cyclist, who this year will defend the colors of EF Education-Nippo – the same squad in which his compatriots Rigoberto Urn, Sergio Higuita and David Arroyave are – assures that he will not settle for “running for running” in the big tests but to always seek to be “with those ahead” whether on the Tour, in the Tour of Italy or in the Return to Spain.
Regarding Spain, Camargo, who will turn 23 next May 3, declares himself an admirer of Alberto Contador, of whom he stressed that when he competed he was characterized by “attacking and always wanting to win.”
“Contador is an example not only for cyclists in Spain, but also for other young people in the world. He was brave when it came to attacking, he gave a show,” says the beetle, who also admires Nairo Quintana and Rigoberto Urn.
Camargo, who was born in Tuta, in the mountainous department of Boyac, also has praise for Primoz Roglic, Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel.
De Roglic recalls that he has won the Tour of Spain and that Pogacar is the current champion of the Tour de France, “just to mention some of the things they have won.”
He has crossed paths with Evenepoel in several races. The most recent was last year in the Return to San Juan (Argentina), where the Belgian was champion and surpassed him by more than two minutes in a 15.2 kilometer time trial.
The spotlights of cycling scouts were focused last year on Camargo because he became the third Colombian rider to win the Vuelta de la Juventud and the Vuelta a Colombia in the same year. Before his countrymen Rafael Antonio Nio (1970) and Oliverio Rincn (1989) did.
“Winning the Youth and the Vuelta paved the way for me to get to EF Education-Nippo and now I have to make the most of every opportunity to show myself,” says the tall runner who weighs 65 kilos and measures 1.76 meters.
For now, he points out, the team wants to take it “step by step” and considers that this year should be one of learning because the way one runs on the World Tour is very different from Colombian cycling.
“This year I will go to work for the team, to help my teammates as much as I can and then see if I have the opportunity to find something for myself,” says Camargo, who continues to train in the surroundings of Tuta.
Those who will wear the stripes in Education will be Urn; the British Hugh Carthy, third in the Tour of Spain in 2020; the American Tejay Van Garderen, and the Portuguese Ruben Guerreiro, winner of a stage of the Giro d’Italia and king of the mountain of that test.
He also hopes to learn from his compatriots Sergio Higuita, from Ecuadorian Jonathan Caicedo, and even from fellow Colombian David Arroyave, who also joined the team this year.
The runner, who lives on his parents’ farm where he learned to grow potatoes and take care of their cows, hopes to start his season in the Volta a Catalua, which will be held from March 22 to 28 next.
“It is what they have told me and surely going there to run and be a nice opportunity to be accommodated in the group where many champions will surely be,” he says.
To be a more complete cyclist Camargo has set the goal of improving in the individual time trial, the Achilles heel of the Beetles.
“Ah I need it, I have to improve in the time trial as well as in the descent that have been the weak points of us Colombians,” says the runner who has five other brothers who, like him, were raised in a humble El Alisal landlord’s home, 2,600 meters above sea level.
While it is time to compete, Camargo remembers that cycling is a difficult and risky sport since obstacles appear around each curve that must be overcome.
One of his worst moments was in 2016 in a local competition when he crashed when he did not see a speed reducer. He remembers that dark moment that he rolled on the floor and that when he woke up he was in a hospital where the doctors told him that he had a fracture in the head of the femur.
What followed was six months of painful recovery, at which time his parents told him not to continue riding his bicycle because it was so dangerous.
“I recovered and here I am and I hope to make my dream of winning the Tour de France come true,” says the promising `Beetle, pointing to great things.
Ovidio Castro Medina
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