The best way to tell the story of the 2015 Vuelta a Espana’s final day is starting from the end. Hundredths of Colombian fans moved from the sides of the road from where they had watched the final stage of the race, 97 km from Alcalà de Henares to Madrid, to all around Team Colombia-Coldeportes’ bus. As each of the nine Escarabajos reached the team’s vehicle, applauses and encouragements rewarded the impressive commitment of Claudio Corti’s riders, all of whom managed to complete the 3.360 km of the Spanish stage race.

For over half an hour, the area surrounding the bus was literally assaulted by the fans, looking for an embrace, a picture, a souvenir. Between them, Coldeportes’ Director and Colombia’s Sports Minister Andres Botero andColombia’s Ambassador in Spain Fernando Carrillo Flores: nothing to envy to the crowd around the bus of the red jersey, parked just by the one of the Colombian outfit. 

Leonardo Duque grazed the top-10 in the final stage, taking eleventh in the sprint won by John Degenkolb (Giant-Alpecin) ahead of Danny Van Poppel (Trek) and Jean-Pierre Drucker (BMC). Fabio Aru (Astana) celebrated the final success, joined on the podium by Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) and Rafal Majka (Tinkoff-Saxo). 

“I think everybody in the team, from first to last, riders and staff, gave everything he could over these three weeks," Miguel Angel Rubiano said afterwards. “We have pursued the stage win we wanted so hard, battling every day, and I believe these people’s attitude and warmth demonstrates that all of that did not go unnoticed. We were astonished by the number of people who stopped us during these last days to congratulate us for our combativity: victory did not come, but I think we can feel proud of our Vuelta. We will keep pursuing the big result in the last month of the season.”

Also General Manager Claudio Corti credited his team’s commitment and aggressive racing: “Our guys fought with determination against strong opponents, in a tough and selective race. All of our nine riders concluded the race, and that’s something to highlight. Beyond the results, including the second place taken by Torres in one of the hardest and most beautiful stage of this Vuelta, the organizer appreciated our team’s combativity, spirit and disposition. We feel happy and proud to have taken part in this race after completing two Giro d’Italia: we wish to thank Javier Guillen and Unipublic for their trust. I hope, and I think, Team Colombia-Coldeportes succeeded in living up to it.“

“Additionally – Corti added – the extraordinary number of fans, both Colombian and not, who followed us on the Spanish roads says a huge lot about the team’s popularity and distinctiveness: promoting Colombia and its reality is one of the big goals of our project, just as important as the ones in sports.”