Café de Colombia () was a Colombian based professional

road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport discipline of road cycling, held primarily on Road surface, paved roads. Road racing is the most popular professional form of bicycle racing, in terms of numbers of competitors, events and spectators. The ...

Cycling team A cycling team is a group of cycle sport, cyclists who join a team or are acquired and train together to compete in bicycle racing, bicycle races whether amateur or professional – and the supporting personnel. Cycling teams are most important i ...

active from 1983 to 1990. The team was sponsored by the

Colombian coffee Coffee production in Colombia has a reputation for producing mild, well-balanced coffee beans. Colombia's average annual coffee production of 11.5 million bags is the third total highest in the world, after Brazil and Vietnam, though highe ...

growers

Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia The National Federation of Coffee Growers of Colombia, (), abbreviated as Colombian Coffee Growers Federation or Fedecafé, is a non-profit business organization, popularly known for its " Juan Valdez" marketing campaign. The Federation was found ...

History

The team came into existence just as

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

n cyclists were achieving successes in Europe. This started with a Colombian National Cycling team entering and winning the

Tour de l'Avenir Tour de l'Avenir () is a French road bicycle racing stage race, which started in 1961 as a race similar to the Tour de France and over much of the same course but for amateurs and for semi-professionals known as independents. Felice Gimondi, Joo ...

in 1980 with Alfonso Flórez. The 1983 Tour de France was the first time that the race was "open" to accommodate amateurs to compete. As a result, the Colombian cyclists were able to compete in a Colombian national cycling team. The following year the Colombian national team, with sponsorship from VARTA batteries, returned to the 1984 Tour de France where Luis Herrera, still an amateur, won the stage to the

Alpe d'Huez L'Alpe d'Huez () is a ski resort in Southeastern France at . It is a mountain pasture in the central French Western Alps, in the Communes of France, commune of Huez, which is part of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-R ...

. After these successes, a professional cycling team was set up that would give contracts and a chance of success in Europe to Colombian cyclists. In 1985 this team was called ''Varta–Café de Colombia–Mavic'' and had as manager José Raúl Meza Orozco. The team was composed of 24 riders from Colombia, 20 of which Café de Colombia had given them their first professional contracts, which included Luis Herrera and

Fabio Parra Fabio Enrique Parra Pinto (born November 22, 1959, in Sogamoso, Boyacá) is a retired Colombian road racing cyclist. Parra was successful as an amateur in Colombia, winning the ''Novatos'' classification for new riders or riders riding their ...

. The following year Raphaël Géminiani was team manager together with Jorge Humberto Tenjo Porras. In 1987 the team, under the guidance of team manager Rafael Antonio Niño and

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' (, ) is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is seen as the equivalent to a field manager in baseball, or a head coach in football. At professional level, a directeur sportif follows t ...

Roberto Sánchez, obtained perhaps its greatest success in 1987 when Luis Herrera won the

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

. Pedro Pablo Valdivieso Ayala and José Gabriel Castro Medina would also be

s with the team. The team stopped after 1990.

Major wins

;1985 :Stage 8

:Stage 7

:Stage 11, 14 and Mountains classification

1985 Tour de France The 1985 Tour de France was the 72nd edition of the Tour de France, one of Cycle sport, cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It took place between 28 June and 21 July. The course ran over and consisted of a individual time trial, pro ...

:Stage 3 Dauphiné Libéré : General classification Clásico RCN ;1986 : General classification Vuelta a la Costa : General classification Clásico RCN ;1987 :Stage 6 Dauphiné Libéré : General classification Clásico RCN : General classification, one stage and Mountains classification

;1988 :General classification Dauphiné Libéré :Clasico Centenario de Armenia :Stage 1 Vuelta Americas :Stage 2 part b Vuelta al Táchira :Stage 3, 7a and General classification Postgirot Open :General classification Tour of the Americas ;1990 :Clasica Duitama

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cafe de Colombia Defunct cycling teams based in Colombia Cycling teams based in Colombia Cycling teams established in 1983 Cycling teams disestablished in 1990