Santiago Botero

Infobox Cyclist
ridername = Santiago Botero


image_caption = Botero climbing in of the 2005 Tour de France.
fullname = Santiago Botero Echeverry
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1972|10|27
country = COL
height =
weight =
currentteam = Rock Racing
discipline = Road
role = Rider
ridertype =
amateurteams =
amateuryears =
proyears =
proteams =
majorwins = 2002 World Time Trial Champion 2000 Tour de France Mountains Classification
updated = July 30, 2008

Santiago Botero Echeverry (born October 27, 1972 in Medellín, Colombia) is a Colombian professional road bicycle racer. He has been a pro since 1996, during which time he has raced in three editions of the Tour de France and four editions of Vuelta a España (the Tour of Spain).

He has been, for the greater part of his career, a member of the Kelme team, but in 2003 joined T-Mobile Team (then named "Team Telekom"). His often brilliant performance as part of the Kelme team turned lacklustre in Team Telekom, with the team management blaming his lack of discipline in training but he claimed because of health problems. In October 2004 he joined Phonak, together with Miguel Ángel Martín Perdiguero from Saunier Duval, and Víctor Hugo Peña and Floyd Landis from Discovery Channel-Berry Floor. He currently lives in both Colombia and Madrid, Spain with his wife. Botero joined the American domestic team, Rock Racing, for the 2008 season.

Results

He was the World Champion in individual time trial in 2002. His career highlights include a stage win in the Vuelta a Andalucía in 1999, a stage win in the Paris-Nice in 1999, a stage win in the 2000 Tour de France, a polka dot jersey as "King of the Mountains" in the 2000 Tour de France, two stage wins in the Vuelta 2001, third place in the World Championships in the individual time trial in 2001, and two stage wins and fourth place overall in the 2002 Tour de France. Other victories include a stage win in the Clasica Bogota in 1997, a prologue win in the Vuelta a Chile in 1997, a stage win in GP Mitsubishi in 1998. After joining T-Mobile his accomplishments in the Tour diminished sharply.

In May 1, 2005 he won the Tour de Romandie in Switzerland, 33 seconds ahead of rising Italian star and favorite for the Giro d'Italia Damiano Cunego. Romandie is often used as a preparation race for the Giro d'Italia. Botero carried that form into the 2005 edition of the Dauphiné Libéré when he won the individual time trial ahead of Americans Levi Leipheimer and Lance Armstrong [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/jun05/dauphinelibere05/?id=results/dauphinelibere053|title= Dauphine Libere stage 3 results, report and photos|publisher=Cyclingnews|accessdate=2007-08-13] as well as winning the mountainous sixth stage which brought him into second overall in the general classification. [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2005/jun05/dauphinelibere05/?id=results/dauphinelibere056|title= Stage 6 Dauphine Libere results,report and photos|publisher=cyclingnews|accessdate=2007-08-13]

Summary

* UCI Road World Championships - Men's Time Trial (2002): Gold Medal; 1st place - World Time Trial Champion
* UCI Road World Championships - Men's Time Trial (2001): Bronze Medal; 3rd place;Tour de France
* 2000: 7th overall, 1 stage win, 1st, Mountains classification
* 2001: 8th overall
* 2002: 4th overall, 2 stage wins; Other stage races
* Tour of Romandie (2005): 1st overall, 1 stage win
* Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré (2005): 2nd overall, 2 stage wins
* Volta a Catalunya: (2006): 2nd overall
* Vuelta a Colombia (2007): 1st overall
* Redlands Bicycle Classic (2008): Stage win

Doping allegations

In 2006, Team Phonak dropped him on June 2 after he was named in media reports on the massive Operación Puerto [cite web
url = http://observer.guardian.co.uk/sport/story/0,,1821552,00.html
title = Plucky Pereiro reigns for Spain in shock result
accessdate = 2006-07-16
last = Fotheringham
first = William
date = 2006-07-16
work = The Observer
publisher = Guardian Unlimited] doping probe in Spain, this just weeks before the start of the 2006 Tour de France. On October 2, 2006, Botero was cleared by the disciplinary committee of the Federación Colombiana de Ciclismo (Colombian Cycling Federation). [cite web
url = http://www.velonews.com/race/int/articles/10957.0.html
title = Monday's EuroFile: Botero cleared; Basso wants same; Valverde tops
accessdate = 2006-12-27
last = Hood
first = Andrew
date = 2006-10-02
work = VeloNews
publisher = Inside Communications] On February 28, 2007, Botero was presented with his new team UNE Orbitel in Bogota, Colombia. He outlined that his ambitions for the year would be to win the Vuelta a Colombia, to be the Colombian national champion and a podium place in the UCI World championships individual time trial event. [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/feb07/feb28news|title=Cyclingnews feb 28 2007|publisher=Cyclingnews|accessdate=2007-08-12] In August, Botero won the Vuelta a Colombia for the first time in his career. He dominated the event by winning the prologue and two stages along the way as well as wearing the leaders jersey for most of the race. [cite web|url=http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/aug07/aug13news2|title=Cyclingnews August 13th|publisher=Cyclingnews|accessdate=2007-08-13]

References