Santiago Botero

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Santiago Botero at the 2005 Tour de France

Santiago Botero Echeverry (born October 27, 1972 in Medellín ) is a former Colombian cyclist .

Career

From 1996 to 2002 Botero drove for the Kelme Costa Blanca team , for which he achieved his greatest success. Like most of his teammates, Botero was initially considered a mountain specialist, but since 2002 he has been more of a strong time trial driver. At the Tour de France 2000 he won a stage for the first time, got the dotted jersey and finished fifth in the overall standings. Two years later he even reached fourth place and surprisingly beat Lance Armstrong in the first time trial of the 2002 Tour . In total, he won three stages of the Tour de France for Kelme .

Also in 2002 he experienced perhaps his greatest triumph when he was world time trial champion at the road world championships in Zolder, Belgium .

In 2003 and 2004, Botero drove for the Telekom and T-Mobile teams . In both years, contrary to the expectations of the team management, he did not succeed in building on his old successes, as he was often plagued by colds and bad luck with injuries. After moving to the Swiss team Phonak in 2005, he returned to the road to success and was able to win the Tour de Romandie at the beginning of May of that year - thanks largely to a sovereign victory in the final time trial. At the eleventh stage of the Tour de France 2005 from Courchevel to Briançon , he made a strong impression when he ran away with Alexander Vinokurow on the climb in front of the leading group around Lance Armstrong and only came second thanks to the stronger acceleration of the Kazakhs in the finish line. In 2006 he started the season at the Clásica Alcobendas in early May. In his first Pro-Tour race that year, the Tour of Catalonia from May 15 to 21, he took second place.

A little later, the name of Santiago Botero was mentioned as one of the customers of the doctor Fuentes in the course of the Spanish doping scandal . Phonak therefore immediately withdrew him from the team that should have contested the Dauphiné Libéré . He was also banned from the Tour de France by his team just like his teammate Gutierrez.

In early November the investigation was closed by the Colombian Cycling Federation due to a lack of evidence. A few weeks later, Botero signed a new contract with the Colombian team UNE-Orbitel after the Phonak team split up at the end of the season. In 2008 he drove for the American Continental Team Rock Racing .

In July 2010 Botero ended his racing career.

successes

Teams

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Botero, Santiago
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Botero Echeverry, Santiago (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Colombian cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH October 27, 1972
PLACE OF BIRTH Medellin