BOGOTA' (Colombia) – The scene is from an action movie, but in reality the plot of this “film” is about good feelings and a shared passion that turns into a special life, desired. A life that transforms from an impossible dream into solid reality and an open book still only at the first pages, in short, everything to be written. So when in the middle of the visit to the Gold Museum in Bogotá on the mobile phone screen of Santiago Buitrago the word “Godfather” appears, you already know there's nothing to worry about. He can't be described better than "godfather": a person who supports you when you're little, hugs you and helps you grow as a sportsman as if he were a second father.
The figure of the "asesor" in Colombia is normal, typical, recurring in all sports. A man, usually wealthy, most likely a former cyclist himself, certainly a benefactor, who identifies the passion first, then the talent of a young athlete with limited economic meansFrom that moment on, he assists him in every need, alongside the family, until he becomes an adult and possibly a champion.
This is the story of Carlos Bernal, a sixty-year-old nephrologist who owns several private clinics in Colombia, and the little one, now become champion, Santiago Buitrago, rider of the Team Bahrain Victorious.
A 11 year old boy
When Francisco Rodriguez, third in the 1985 Vuelta won by Pedro Delgado, approached Carlos, his old training partner, to tell him that he had seen a special child in a youth race, Carlos's ears immediately perked up. Carlos himself had been an amateur cyclist in Colombia in the 80s, reaching the threshold of professionalism, with a dream never realized in first person, but with the desire to realize it in the second part of his life. He was a qualified doctor who could go out of his way to help someone else where he himself couldn't reach. That child was just 11-12 years old and in fact, Carlos says today, at first sight it was almost love at first sight.
Santiago Buitrago in mini format was smart, he knew how to run in the advanced positions of the group, he knew how to sprint uphill, he knew how to win in tight sprints. But above all, she had lively eyes that lit up a round chocolate-colored face surrounded by a bob of dark hair., like those in cartoons. Chubby but powerful legs, an innate agility, a truly special pedal stroke. But everything else was missing: a suitable pair of shoes, an acceptable bike instead of the old wreck he had been using until then, a real cyclist's uniformEverything Carlos had been waiting to achieve for a long time, at the right time, with the right champion, with the right family willing to accept his outstretched hand.
The advisor and the champion
And so in the summer of 2011 the inseparable friendship between Carlos and Santiago, the advisor and the champion, begins, as it had been a few years earlier for Pablo Mazuera with Egan Bernal. It began the story of the long SUV trips through the Colombian mountains of Carlos Bernal (no relation to Egan) together with Santiago Buitrago. The two of them, a bike, water, a few bananas for fuel, and a sports bag with shoes, bib shorts, a towel, a helmet, and glasses—and lots of dreams to make come true.
A partnership so strong that it generated some jealousy and tension even in the Buitrago family, especially when Carlos in 2019 had done everything to ship to Europe, to Tuscany, into the arms of Francesco Ghiarè and his team Cinelli a young and inexperienced under 23 in his second year in the categoryAfter four races he had already collected a top 10 finish, but also three hospitalizations for three disastrous falls.
Emergency in Italy
Don Gustavo Bernal had summoned Carlos to his home to nail him to his responsibilities, now that his son was in difficultyAn emergency flight from Bogota to Rome was too expensive for the family of origin. Santiago had lost consciousness for a night in the hospital bed and his parents were too worried to leave him alone in Italy in those conditions.
So Carlos immediately set out to go and get him back to his homeland, when Santiago on the other end of the line, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, had begged him not to do it. He wanted to try one more time, everything would work out fine, he wanted to take all his chances, no matter what the cost, even against his family's wishes. And Santiago had been right, so right that to remember it today Santi and Carlos still look into each other's eyes and smile, happy to have made it together, happy to retrace those days on the annual trip they have been treating themselves to every December since then.
The trip in December
A tradition, staying for days in the Colombian mountains by van and bicycle, to talk about their lives, to plan the next season, to eat, laugh and pedal away from the stress. As if they were still a young doctor and a novice boy, full of enthusiasm and shared passion for cycling.
Because the world around can change, become fast and stressful, but their world suspended between Bogota and theAlto de Letras it will always remain the same, worthy of the plot of an action movie that has been transformed into a feature film over time. It speaks of good feelings and of a shared passion that turns into a special life: that of the champion professional cyclist.
