Raúl Alcalá - México
✅ First Mexican rider to win a stage on the Tour de France,
🏆 White jersey 1987, 2 stage wins on the Tour de France
📆 Pro years: 1986 - 1994
In Mexico, cycling wasn’t really one of the top sports, back in the 80’s. The young Raúl was yet more passionate about the Tour de France than the football World Cup. And at this time, the Olympic Games were open to amateurs. His best chance to turn professional was then to make it to the Olympic Mexican team and to show what he was able to do on a bicycle.
The 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles came and Alcalá showed some potential with an 11th place on the road race. He was then able to join the 7-Eleven team that would let him take part in his first Tour de France in 1986. His 114th spot in the general classification was not what he expected but the next year would prove itself a lot more successful.
Alcalá approached the race in a different mindset than the first time. This time, he was here to get a result in the GC. Placed regularly around the 10th place, he stayed consistent for the whole Tour de France and finished 9th, winning the white jersey at the same time.
Even if he couldn’t repeat this performance the next year, he won a stage during the 1989 edition and another one the next year.
Raúl Alcalá is still the most successful Mexican rider to this day and even tried a come-back from 2008 to 2010. Even if professional cycling in Mexico is not the most popular sport, the success of L'Etape México showed that people are really enjoying riding in this country and who knows… maybe a young Mexican rider will shine in the pro peloton in the next few years?
Luis "Lucho" Herrera - Colombia
✅ 1st Colombian to wear the Yellow Jersey of the Tour de France,
🏆 2-time winner of the polka-dot jersey, 3 stage wins on the Tour de France
📆 Pro years: 1985 - 1992
Before Colombian cycling really stared to shine as we can see it nowadays, someone had to pave the way for the future generations. This rider was Luis ‘Lucho’ Herrera.
After winning a lot of races in Colombia, he came to Europe, still as an amateur, to take part in bigger events. Back in 1984, the Tour was open to amateurs, and Herrera raced his first Tour de France in 1984, with the Colombian national team built around amateur riders. That’s when he won his first stage, at the top of l’Alpe d’Huez, becoming the first Colombian and the first amateur to win a stage on the Tour de France.
The next year, the Colombian team turned into a professional one, Café de Colombia and helped Lucho Herrera secure his first polka-dot jersey and 2 stage wins.
The great Colombian climber then won the KOM classification on the 2 other Grands Tours as well as stage wins. He’s part of the very few riders to have ever won the KOM classification and stage wins on the 3 Grands Tours.
Colombian cycling took some time to reach the top step of the podium in Paris after the exploits of Herrera, but Egan Bernal finally put an end to the wait last year by winning the Tour de France.
Want to learn more about Luis Herrera?
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Richard Carapaz - Ecuador
✅ 1st Ecuadorian to finish on the podium of the Tour de France,
🏆 1 general classification podium, 4 stage podiums
📆 Pro years: 2016 - now
Colombian cyclists have been successful on the Tour de France for almost 40 years, but their neighbor country, Ecuador, had never enjoyed such a success until then.
Richard Carapaz started cycling when he was 15 years old, with hopes of one day taking part in a Grand Tour. With his early results as a young rider, he managed to get selected for the U23 Panamerican championships in 2013. He left all of the other riders behind, dropping them one by one before winning the title. Carapaz then joined a Colombian team before moving to Spain at the beginning of 2016. What he achieved on the Spanish races picked the interest of team Movistar, who brought him in for the remaining of the season as a stagiaire.
Good results on the pro level started to come in 2018, when he won stage 8 of the Giro d’Italia and finished 4th of the general classification. Movistar really understood the potential of Carapaz, realizing they had another leader for Grand Tours, alongside Nairo Quintana.
But it’s in 2019 that the Ecuadorian asserted his status as one of the best climbers in the world. During the 2019 Giro d’Italia, he managed to win 2 stages and the general classification, becoming the first rider from Ecuador to win a Grand Tour.
It was then time to give it a try to the biggest race in the world: the Tour de France. Having just moved over to INEOS Grenadiers, his role within the team was not clearly defined. He took the start of the Tour de France as a domestique for Egan Bernal, but the Colombian was still suffering from back problems and had to leave the race on stage 17. The next day, Carapaz and his teammate Kwiatkowski got rid of all the other riders in the breakaway and crossed the line holding hands, while Kwiatkowski took the win.
He came back on the 2021 Tour de France as co-leader of his team, alongside Geraint Thomas. While the Welsh crashed out of the race on stage 3, Carapaz’s only went better and better as it was moving forward. He lost time in the first few mountain stages but rode a solid last part of the Tour de France to finish 3rd overall, again being the first from his country to stand on the podium of the Tour de France. He capped off his 2021 year in the best way possible, becoming Olympic champion in Tokyo.
Carapaz is now one of the most feared climbers in the pro peloton, and proved it again in 2022 by finishing 2nd of the Giro d’Italia.
Mauro Ribeiro - Brazil
✅ 1st Brazilian rider to win a stage in the Tour de France,
🏆 Winner of a stage of the 1991 Tour de France
📆 Pro years: 1986 - 1994
Not a lot of Brazilians have taken part in the Tour de France. You can’t count them on the fingers of one hand. But one of them managed to win a stage.
Mauro Ribeiro arrived In France in 1985, with the hopes of turning pro. He already proved himself as a potential future star by winning the the points race at the Junior Track World Championships in 1982. Mauro raced as an amateur for the whole 1985 year and won multiple races. But his integration was difficult and he went back to Brazil with a feeling that he would never be a professional rider. The RMO team was being created and Jean De Gribaldy called him to be part of it. He didn’t even need a meeting and agreed on the phone.
Ribeiro was really appreciated in the team, and his leaders wanted him by their side as often as possible. Charly Mottet even let him win a stage of Paris-Nice in 1990 when they arrived together on the Promenade des Anglais.
Having proved himself a strong and trustful teammate, his team selected him for the Tour de France. It was in 1991 that he took part in his first (and only) Tour de France. On the way to Rennes, during the 9th stage, he outsprinted his fellow breakaway companions to win the stage in front of Laurent Jalabert and Dimitri Konyshev! This victory was the biggest one of his career and still is the only stage win in the Tour de France for a Brazilian rider.
Murilo Fischer was the next biggest Brazilian talent, but never managed to win a stage in the Tour, despite racing it 3 times.
