A few days before the start of the Future Tower the name of Santiago Umba he was at the top of the Colombian team's list. The nineteen-year-old of the Drone Hopper-Androni he already had a ticket to France, but then We didn't see him at the start in La Roche sur Yon. The reason is simple: Umba was not in condition.
But such a significant cancellation, clearly related to the race, could not be left unanswered. And as often happens, the answers are given to us by a true master of cycling, John Ellena, who is also the sporting director of Umba.
Winter Troubles
Rewinding the tape with Ellena, we realize that the Colombian talent has actually competed relatively little this year and without great results.
«To understand his renunciation of the Avenir – says Ellena – you have to start from the top. In one of the first races of the season Santiago crashed I hit my knee and it resulted in bone edema. This caused him a lot of problems. Problems he had to deal with until late May. Only from then on was he able to train properly."
And since then, Umba has also resumed running consistently. He's won several races, but not without difficulty.
«He started to feel good at the Sibiu Tour. From there he did a good block of races up to the Sazka Tour. But all that was too little to go to the Avenir. Santiago wasn't 100 percent."
Captain: honors and burdens
He wasn't 100%, but he was an athlete that Ellena himself had spoken highly of, capable of demonstrating enormous values. Maybe he could have gone to France anyway. Maybe he could have helped his teammates.
But things were not like that.
«Some time ago – Ellena continues – The Colombia coach calls me and tells me that not only does he want to bring Umba, but he wants to bring him as captain. At that point, given the important showcase, we thought he couldn't go and make a bad impression. It wouldn't be good for anyone: for the boy, for Colombia, and for us too. He couldn't even work for others (who perhaps weren't up to the task, ed.) and not be a leader.
And so given this pursuit of condition Drone Hopper-Androni and the boy himself thought that the summer racing block needed to be put to good use in some way. The reasoning was this: “You're not 100 percent ready for the Avenir, let's take advantage of what we've done, go to high altitude and prepare the final block of the Italian calendar properly”.
Umba the wise
Of course, having to give up a role like that at not even twenty years old is something that stings. All the more so since in South America the Avenir, and in general the important European stage races, are very popular.
Umba cared a lot about it.
Now Santiago has returned to his home in Colombia, in Tunja, a small village at 2.820 meters above sea level, not far from Boyaca, the areas of Quintana and not too far from those of BernalThat's where he's doing the high-altitude stuff. He can pedal at altitudes above 3.500 meters.
Ellena says the choice was indeed painful, but at the same time she says Umba is a very intelligent boy and proved himself wise in this instance too. Santiago knew he had more to lose than to gain, given his condition.
“Umba is a truly great athlete,” Ellena continues, “but he realized he could burn himself out, and we made this abrupt decision. He's a smart guy and he was the first to raise his hand and bring up the subject. He almost didn't know how to say it. And I can assure you that Avenir is very important for a Colombian boy."
Italian final
"Santiago," Ellena says, "will return to Europe, here in Piedmont, on September 9th. He has matured a lot since last year, even if in some ways he already is. He, like his compatriots, sees cycling as a way of life, even if his family is not doing badly, and the fact that a ridiculous fall had compromised his time for so long made him have a thousand doubts, It confused him a bit.
«It was a matter of debate right up until the very end: should I do it or not? He tried: a masseur came to him every day, then he went to a physiotherapy center, then he did physiotherapy at home... But, I repeat, perhaps the expectations of him were too high. We also talked about it with Michele Bartoli who follows him, and together we decided that given the good block of races he had done, it was better for him to recover a bit and prepare well for the end of the season.
«Ultimately, we're talking about a boy who's in his second year as an amateur, because that's just how he is.»
And before closing Ellena adds a sentence to reflect on: «If it had been three or four years ago maybe he would have gone Even under these conditions. Maybe they would have fought for the win, but with the level we have today... it's impossible."
