Fernando Gaviria

Career

Before his road career, Gaviria won the omnium and madison events at the 2012 UCI Juniors Track World Championships. In 2014, he won the under-23 Pan-American road race. He also competed in the 2014 Tour de l'Avenir. Although he did not win a stage, he won the bunch sprint behind the breakaway on the first stage and ended the race second in the points competition. Later that year he won the omnium in the London round of the 2014–15 UCI Track Cycling World Cup.

Gaviria's first major road cycling success came with two victories in the 2015 Tour de San Luis, one of the major early-season cycling races. He won a surprise victory in the first stage of the race, opening his sprint early and beating 2011 world champion Mark Cavendish of the Etixx–Quick-Step team into second place. Cavendish said after the race that he had not heard of Gaviria before the race. Gaviria then won the third stage of the race, again beating Cavendish into second place. Cavendish finally won a stage in the final stage of the event, with Gaviria finishing a close second.

Following these high-profile victories, there were reports that several UCI World Tour teams were seeking to sign Gaviria, including AG2R La Mondiale, though he committed his 2015 season to riding with the Colombian national team. Later reports suggested that his most likely 2016 team was Cavendish's own Etixx–Quick-Step team. It was also revealed that Gaviria had been recommended in 2014 to Patrick Lefevere, the manager of Etixx–Quick-Step, but the team declined to sign him. Following Gaviria's success at the Tour de San Luis, Lefevere called this a "mistake". In February 2015, Lefevere announced that Gaviria would be undergoing tests with Etixx–Quick-Step after the 2015 UCI Track World Championships, a further move towards a contract for 2016. Lefevere also said that such a contract would not prevent Gaviria competing in the 2016 Olympic Games. Following these tests, Gaviria signed a contract for 2016 with Etixx–Quick-Step, along with fellow Colombian Rodrigo Contreras. Gaviria's plans to ride in the 2016 Olympic Games were affirmed by Lefevere; he also suggested that Gaviria might ride as a stagiaire for the team during 2015.

In February 2015, Gaviria competed for Colombia in the track World Championships in the omnium competition. Although he won none of the six events, he was consistent throughout. In the concluding points race, he was able to gain an early lap on the field, giving him a large advantage; he was then able to mark his closest rival, Elia Viviani, and secured a comfortable overall victory to win the rainbow jersey.

Gaviria made his debut for Etixx-Quick Step as a stagiaire in August 2015 at the 2015 RideLondon–Surrey Classic. He finished in eighth position, the highest-placed Etixx-Quickstep rider. His next race for the team was in the Czech Cycling Tour, where Etixx-Quick Step won the first stage, a team time trial. The following day Gaviria won his first individual stage victory for the team, winning a reduced bunch sprint. After this race, it was Tour of Britain, where Gaviria managed to take one stage win ahead of several world class sprinters including André Greipel and Elia Viviani.

2016 began almost as strongly as the previous season. He won the Team Time Trial with Etixx–Quick-Step and also took another stage at the Tour de San Luis. He crashed out later in the race preventing another victory. In February he won a stage and the points classification at the new race Tour La Provence. In early March he became the first rider to win two Gold medals in the Omnium at the Track Cycling World Championships by defending his title from the previous year. He won stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico, his first victory at World Tour level.

He was named in the start list for the 2017 Giro d'Italia and won Stage 3 from Tortolì to Cagliari in a sprint finish, taking the Maglia Rosa in the process. He achieved further success by winning Stages 5, 12 and 13 in a bunch sprint, making him the first Colombian to win four stages in a single Giro d'Italia.