Benoit Tessier/Reuters
Long before Rigoberto Urán finished second at the Tour de France, he had to climb out of poverty and steer clear of the violence in his native Colombia.
While Chris Froome and his Sky team won yet another Tour de France on Sunday, for many cycling fans the more compelling story was that of Rigoberto Urán and his Cannondale-Drapac team. The Colombian finished second overall, just 54 seconds behind Froome after three weeks of intense racing, giving what Froome called his "closest and most hard-fought battle" in the world's biggest bike race.
Cannondale-Drapac has among the smallest budgets in the WorldTour, a third of Sky's, and is known as a scrappy squad that has resorted to a "Moneyball" strategy to compete against deep-pocketed juggernauts, with Urán its lone million-dollar rider. Jonathan Vaughters, the team's general manager, rolled the dice with Urán at the Tour, and it paid off big time, with the 30-year-old winning a key mountain stage and finishing on the second step in Paris, in a coup for the Argyle Armada.
While American fans who watch only the Tour may have seen Urán as a surprise, he's long been building a standout résumé, having raced in Europe for over a decade. Wildly popular at home and with die-hard cycling fans worldwide, he's a colorful character who loves to laugh and joke. But "Rigo" is also respected as a dedicated professional, and in Colombia he personifies a country that's trying to move forward from its war-torn past.
Following are some of the pivotal moments in Urán's life and career to date. Thanks to Klaus Bellon, a cycling journalist who reports on Colombian cycling at Alps & Andes, who shared his insights with Business Insider.