Cafe de Colombia

The legendary Café de Colombia race team. The rise and fall of the Cafe de Colombia cycling team was solely connected to the coffee industry in Colombia. The team was brought to life in 1986 to give promising young Colombian riders a chance to prove themselves in big European races. The main sponsor for the team was the Federacion National de cafeteros de Colombia (Colombian coffee plantation owners). Stages were won in the Tour de France but most successes came from La Vuelta where Colombian protagonist Luis "Lucho" Herrera won the general classification. In those days the Tour de France was much more visible than the Vuelta that is why we connect the team more to the Tour de France. In the final year it was the decreasing price for the green coffee beans on the world market that let to the fall of this remarkable team. After his cycling carreer, Luis Herrera started a plant nursery that gave him the nickname: El jardinerito.