It’s difficult to get a better insight on a spectacular development of Colombian cycling than the one shared by Claudio Corti, the father of successes of many South American riders. The Team Colombia manager reflects on the recently concluded Giro d’Italia marked by a domination of his fellow countrymen and on a steady growth of his team.

The 2014 Giro d’Italia was not only the most entertaining edition of recent years, but underlined a transformation of the season’s first three-week event from a purely Italian affair to an international spectacle. Or Colombian, in this particular case. The Team Colombia manager admitted, that he wasn’t surprised with the way his countrymen dominated the event and was pleased by a progress made by his own riders, who actively featured in breakaways and animated most of mountain stages.

“For the performance itself the “kids” are happy. I received a lot of compliments from Colombian authorities and fans because of the team being very visible throughout the whole event, always featuring in breakaways and animating the climbs,” Claudio Corti told Tuttobici.web.

“We missed a stage victory, but in the end for what does it count? Afterwards, a nice picture it all that remains. Our Giro is worth much more than just a stage victory.”

Corti also reflected on performances of Colombians riding for WorldTour teams, who dominated the podium of 2014 edition of the Giro d’Italia.

“Quintana attended the presentation of the Giro this winter and had to be urged to ride it – With these climbs it will suit you more than the Tour – I told him. Uran has been already recognized for his strength, his performances in recent years made it absolutely clear.”

“In addition to the quality and quantity of Colombian athletes at the start, there is a cartain plan behind that which finally started to bear fruit. The fact that the country sponsors a team like ours [Team Colombia] is giving a lot of credibility to cycling, while riders were initially treated with some degree of suspicion.”

Asked about mentioned transformation in perceiving cycling in Colombia, Corti shared a deeper insight on this matter.

“The Colombian rider has become credible – he is no longer seen as improvised athlete, who comes out of who knows where and feeds himself with who knows what. With our team we experienced a steady progress, slowly maturing enough to win stages in Trentino, in Burgos, in Poland, the GP Camaiore and demonstrating that there were particular foundations standing behind these athletes.”

“Now all teams want to have a Colombian rider: BMC took Atapuma, Garmin-Sharp Acevedo, Trek Factory Racing Arredondo, Team Sky [Sebastian] Henao, Orica-GreenEDGE Chaves. We’re in fashion… “

While Team Colombia manager revealed race programme of his riders for upcoming weeks, he is forced to wait before revealing long-team plans. The South American Pro Continental squad is strongly depended on decisions made on political level and even though the current government is satisfied with a progress of the project, the Colombian elections held on June 16 will have a huge impact on its future.

“The team is riding in Luxembourg at the moment, then we run a busy schedule in June with participations in GP Gippingen, Route du Sud and Tour of Slovenia. Then all the boys will return home as they deserve a month of rest to spend with their families. We will team up again in late July with many other important races in sight, including events guaranteeing a lot of publicity, to which I’m very proud to be invited.”

“On June 16th elections in Colombia are held, and we’ll see who wins. Our project continues to grow and gain sympathy, so I’m so I’m looking forward to the future to discover with whom we are going to cooperate and, to understand how it would affect the team and how to plan upcoming seasons,” Corti concluded.