![\"rigobertouran\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/rigobertouran-66bf252640ada.jpg@webp.webp\")
<\/p>\n
\nA reunion that felt like a time machine<\/p>\n
The start list alone could have belonged to a Grand Tour from a decade ago: Uran, Nibali, Aru, Quintana, Bernal, Henao and Agnoli all rolled out together alongside thousands of amateur riders. Yet the vibe was more festival than finish line \u2014 a reunion of champions reliving what united them long before wattages and world rankings.<\/p>\n
Aru, who was invited personally by Uran, described scenes of warmth and chaos as the group landed in Colombia. \u201cFrom the moment we arrived, people were waiting with flags and phones for photos. Rigo is a national hero there \u2014 he\u2019s got the popularity of a rock star.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Giro d\u2019Italia runner-up joined Nibali and Agnoli for the 165-kilometre route, mingling freely among the 8,000 riders who had travelled from across South America. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t an easy course, but the goal wasn\u2019t to suffer \u2014 it was to enjoy the day with the fans,\u201d he said. \u201cWe stopped for pictures, joked around at the feed zones, and I even tried the local papas \u2014 like boiled potatoes!\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rigoberto Uran is the man behind the Giro del Rigo<\/p>\n
More than a race<\/p>\n
What struck Aru most wasn\u2019t the scale of the event but the love surrounding Uran himself. The Colombian, who has turned his post-racing years into a thriving network of restaurants, tours and cycling events, has built something far beyond sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cRigoberto really deserves all of it,\u201d Aru said. \u201cHe\u2019s hugely popular and his event is organised perfectly. It\u2019s great for cycling because it shows how much joy and energy the sport can bring.\u201d<\/p>\n
When the riding ended, the music began. A festival village filled with food stalls, live bands and fans dancing late into the evening brought the day to a close \u2014 with Nibali and Quintana leading the chorus.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe man with a thousand faces\u201d<\/p>\n
For Aru, the trip was also a reminder of how far he\u2019s come since his own racing days. Among the Colombian crowd he discovered he had picked up a new nickname: El hombre de las mil caras \u2014 \u201cthe man with a thousand faces.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey told me it was because of all the expressions I made when I was suffering,\u201d Aru laughed. \u201cI explained it was just because I was always giving more than I had.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amid the laughter and nostalgia, the Italian couldn\u2019t help noticing a sentimental detail: the Giro d\u2019Italia 2014 podium was reunited once again \u2014 Quintana, Uran and himself \u2014 this time not for battle, but celebration.<\/p>\n
For one golden weekend, competition was replaced by camaraderie, and the peloton\u2019s past stars became the life of the party. As Aru put it best: \u201cWe didn\u2019t talk much about racing \u2014 we just had an amazing time.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A reunion that felt like a time machine The start list alone could have belonged to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-252838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}