tour colombia 2018

• Tour de France
• Giro d'Italia
• La Vuelta ciclista a España
• World Championships
• Amstel Gold Race
• Milano-Sanremo
• Tirreno-Adriatico
• Liège-Bastogne-Liège
• Il Lombardia
• La Flèche Wallonne
• Paris - Nice
• Paris-Roubaix
• Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
• Critérium du Dauphiné
• Tour des Flandres
• Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields
• Clásica Ciclista San Sebastián
• INEOS Grenadiers
• Groupama - FDJ
• EF Education-EasyPost
• Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
• BORA - hansgrohe
• Bahrain - Victorious
• Astana Qazaqstan Team
• Intermarché - Wanty
• Lidl - Trek
• Movistar Team
• Soudal - Quick Step
• Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
• Team Jayco AlUla
• Team Visma | Lease a Bike
• UAE Team Emirates
• Arkéa - B&B Hotels
• Alpecin-Deceuninck
• Grand tours
• Countdown to 3 billion pageviews
• Favorite500
• Profile Score
• Stage winners
• All stage profiles
• Race palmares
• Complementary results
• Finish photo
• Contribute info
• Contribute results
• Contribute site(s)
• Results - Results
• Info - Info
• Live - Live
• Game - Game
• Stats - Stats
• More - More
• Tour Colombia
•   »  

Colombia Oro y Paz

Race information.

• Date: 11 February 2018
• Start time: -
• Avg. speed winner: 42.18 km/h
• Race category: ME - Men Elite
• Distance: 184.3 km
• Points scale: 2.1.Stage
• UCI scale: UCI.WR.1.Stage
• Parcours type:
• ProfileScore: 235
• Vert. meters: 2755
• Departure: Armenia
• Arrival: Manizales (Torre de Chipre)
• Race ranking: 0
• Startlist quality score: 248
• Won how: ? - let us know!
• Avg. temperature:

Grand Tours

• Vuelta a España

Major Tours

• Volta a Catalunya
• Tour de Romandie
• Tour de Suisse
• Itzulia Basque Country
• Milano-SanRemo
• Ronde van Vlaanderen

Championships

• European championships

Top classics

• Omloop Het Nieuwsblad
• Strade Bianche
• Gent-Wevelgem
• Dwars door Vlaanderen
• Eschborn-Frankfurt
• San Sebastian
• Bretagne Classic
• GP Montréal

Popular riders

• Tadej Pogačar
• Wout van Aert
• Remco Evenepoel
• Jonas Vingegaard
• Mathieu van der Poel
• Mads Pedersen
• Primoz Roglic
• Demi Vollering
• Lotte Kopecky
• Katarzyna Niewiadoma
• PCS ranking
• UCI World Ranking
• Points per age
• Latest injuries
• Youngest riders
• Grand tour statistics
• Monument classics
• Latest transfers
• Favorite 500
• Points scales
• Profile scores
• Reset password
• Cookie consent

About ProCyclingStats

• Cookie policy
• Contributions
• Pageload 0.0731s

Tour Colombia

UCI, Stage race, 6th -11th February 2018, Colombia

GC Youth Points Mountain Sprint GC Stage: 01 Stage: 02 Stage: 03 Stage: 04 Stage: 05 Stage: 06

Information

6th -11th February 2018

Will a Colombian ever win the Tour de France?

• Joe Lindsey, Special to ESPN

The Colombian would not be denied.

He had made the elite selection on the final climb on a pivotal mountain stage of the 2017 Tour de France. He emerged upright from the crash on the treacherous descent that took out two other contenders and crippled his derailleur; and he was somehow, impossibly, still in the mix for the small-group sprint despite having only one working gear.

Into the final corner, Astana's Jakob Fuglsang jumped first, but the Colombian calmly closed the gap, churning a huge gear, and then starting his own sprint with less than 200 meters to go. Behind, Sunweb's Warren Barguil closed fast, but the Colombian seemed to find extra strength, lunging for the finish line with a final surge to hold off the challenge and take a photo-finish victory.

Perhaps more important, he would jump seven spots to fourth overall, just 55 seconds behind leader and multiple-time Tour winner Chris Froome, who later would label the Colombian "my biggest threat."

If, before that Tour, fans were asked to predict which Colombian would threaten Froome, the obvious pick would have been three-time podium finisher Nairo Quintana. But Quintana was uncharacteristically missing from the front of the race that day. Instead, Froome's new rival was Rigoberto Uran.

Uran is often overlooked. Despite several second-place finishes in the Giro d'Italia, he'd never finished better than 23rd in the Tour de France. After 13 seasons as a pro, went the thinking, maybe his best seasons were behind him. But Uran would confirm Froome's comment, eventually finishing second overall in Paris, just 54 seconds behind. It's the closest a Colombian has ever come to winning cycling's biggest race.

The 31-year-old is back at the Tour de France (July 7-29) to try again as a part of EF Education First. And he won't be alone. Quintana is there, too, with four other Colombians, including Team Sky's Egan Bernal -- the country's most promising young talent and field sprinter Fernando Gaviria, who won the Tour's opening stage on Saturday and Colombia's first-ever yellow jersey. Almost 35 years after Colombia's first taste of success at the Tour, and after a long sojourn that saw its teams fold and talent in the pipeline wither, arguably the most bike-mad country in the world will again try to answer the question: Will a Colombian rider ever win the Tour de France?


Of course, said Spaniard Alberto Contador, one of the finest Grand Tour racers in history. "Colombia will win the Tour one day," he said earlier this year to El Tiempo, Colombia's most widely read daily newspaper. "It's an impressive generation [of riders], and the one that is coming is very interesting, with many names to take into account."

What's so striking about Colombia's resurgence is its quality. No nation, not even the sport's traditional powers like France and Belgium and Italy, has achieved as many podium finishes (11) in the three-week Grand Tours the past five years as Colombia. And while Quintana has the most impressive palmares, Uran, Esteban Chaves and Miguel Angel Lopez have also stood on Grand Tour podiums the past three seasons.

Of six Colombians at the Tour, Uran and 28-year-old Quintana are leading their respective EF Education First and Movistar teams. And although the typical Colombian rider is like Quintana, a wiry climber at 5-foot-6, one of the most talented young riders to emerge in the past two years is 5-foot-11 Gaviria, who started his first Tour de France in hopes of matching his Giro debut last year, where he won four stages. He's off to a good start in France, after he finished ahead of world champion Peter Sagan and German Marcel Kittel, second and third respectively, in Stage 1.

Behind them is a pipeline of young, talented riders. Most prominent is Bernal, a phenomenal 21-year-old with six wins already this year, including the recent Tour of California. Bernal has never ridden a Grand Tour, but his climbing prowess was too strong a lure for Team Sky to resist, so he is riding in support of Froome. Uran has his own up-and-coming young colleague in 22-year-old Daniel Martinez, who finished third at the Tour of California and got his first Tour de France start.

Bernal and Martinez are the race's youngest and third-youngest entrants, respectively, and fashionable picks to contend for the white jersey of the Tour's best young rider. "Dani needs experience over three weeks [of racing]," Uran said through an interpreter. "But the most important thing is to be a good rider, and Dani is a good rider. It's just a question of time."

But they also represent the gusher of talent coming out of Colombia right now -- a gusher that, if it can be sustained, could finally transform Colombia from the most successful cycling nation in the Western Hemisphere to the most successful in the world.

Colombia is neither particularly large nor small in population (49.5 million) and landmass. And before the 1980s, it had little international cycling pedigree. But it currently sits sixth in the sport's national ranking -- behind only Great Britain and four of the traditional cycling powers: Italy, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.

It has the same number of WorldTour riders (17) as the United States (population 300 million), but the U.S., also once a rising nation in the sport, now sits a distant 20th in the UCI standings, hasn't won a Tour stage since 2011, and has no clear overall contender now or in the immediate future.

So what makes Colombia so good?

Start with geography. Colombians grow up riding steep terrain -- and because their top cyclists tend to be smaller and lighter, this gives them a theoretical advantage in the mountains against larger European riders. The country's Andean mountain range holds some of the longest and hardest climbs in the world, like the famed Alto de Letras, which climbs more than 10,000 feet over 52 miles. "Cycling takes these horrible climbs and inverts that and turns those into monuments of cycling," says Matt Rendell, author of the only English-language history of Colombian cycling, "Kings of the Mountains" and a forthcoming sequel.

The geography also plays a role in their unique physiology. Cycling relies significantly on the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. More red cells equals more oxygen, which leads to increased energy to the muscles and results in faster riding. Living at altitude also forces the body to produce more red cells to compensate for the decreased oxygen.

Martinez lives on the outskirts of Bogota, at 8,500 feet above sea level. "That's a big advantage for us," Martinez says through an interpreter. Chaves is also from Bogota. Uran's hometown of Urrao is at 6,000 feet, and rural La Concepcion, Quintana's childhood home, sits at more than 9,000 feet high in the Boyaca department. But it's not as simple as just moving somewhere high.

"You can't just take some random climber from Italy and send them to Colombia and it'll work," says Jonathan Vaughters, Uran's EF Education First team general manager. Colombians are altitude natives, genetically adapted for low-oxygen environments, says Vaughters, "so when they go home, their red blood cell count ramps up, whereas you send someone else and they struggle with altitude."

Finally, there's Colombia's deep domestic cycling culture. The oldest continually run stage race outside of Europe is the Vuelta a Colombia, which dates to 1951. And Colombia's first bike racers are national heroes. Luis "Lucho" Herrera became Colombia's first Tour stage winner in 1984, and Klaus Bellon, a cycling writer who grew up in Bogota, recalled the ecstasy that followed. The radio commentators "were not just crying, but gasping for breath like a child," he says. "It's easy to write off as patriotic hubris, but we lived and died for cycling."

By the late 1980s, Colombia had two teams -- Café de Colombia and Postobon -- and was winning major European races. When Fabio Parra finished third overall in the 1988 Tour, Colombia seemed on the brink of winning the whole thing. Then, with stunning quickness, the country's cycling program collapsed, its two teams folding in the 1990s.

How did Colombian cycling fall so far so fast? Rendell and Bellon point to several wide-ranging culprits in the '80s and early '90s, like the 1989 collapse of the International Coffee Agreement, which cratered prices; violent drug cartels; political instability; and one rooted in Colombia's success in another sport.

In 1990, Colombia qualified for its first football World Cup since 1962. "When I was a kid, [1962] was ancient history," Bellon says. "So when they qualified, it was the biggest news in the country. All of a sudden it was like a switch went off. Instantly, the companies sponsoring cycling teams seized that opportunity and shifted their marketing dollars to football."

There was little left over for international cycling. But if Colombians retreated from the world stage, the domestic sport stayed strong. The Vuelta a Colombia and its rival race, the Clasico RCN, continued to be major national events. At February's Colombia Oro y Paz stage race, fans lined the road eight to 10 deep to glimpse the riders. "Groups of police officers would link arms and create a human chain just so Rigo could get from the finish tent to the team bus," says Alex Howes, an American teammate of Uran's. And tucked into almost every town in Andean departments like Boyaca, Cundinamarca, and Antioquia, the heart of Colombian cycling, were local cycling clubs where boys learned to ride.

Uran and Quintana are only three years apart in age but come from different generations of Colombian cycling. Quintana represents the newer path. Raised in a small farming village near Tunja, he got his first bike at 15 to ride to school (nine miles, one way and a 1,000-foot climb home) and raced for small local teams. In 2009, then 19, he signed with Boyaca es Para Vivirla, sponsored by the regional government. Success there put him into Colombia's most important modern development team, then called Colombia es Pasion. There, Quintana, who can come across as shy and quiet, turned heads by winning the 2010 Tour de l'Avenir, the Tour de France for young riders. The WorldTour contract with Movistar followed.

Uran, by contrast, grew up quickly in one of Colombia's most troubled eras. In 2001, his father, also named Rigoberto, was killed by paramilitaries while on a bike ride. Just 14, young Rigo was man of the house and took over his father's job selling lottery tickets, while continuing to train. To earn more, he turned pro at 16 years old with a regional team; he was so young his mother had to sign his contract. At 19, the same age Quintana signed his first domestic pro deal, Uran was already in Europe, racing for the second-division Italian team Tenax.

"You feel alone and you don't have many friends," Uran says of the isolation that he felt when he arrived in Italy. Everything about the culture was different, "especially the organization, the races." Uran was lucky to meet a family in Brescia that essentially adopted him after he broke a collarbone in a crash, and he credits them with helping him recover and gradually assimilate. He thinks being so young actually helped. "It was possible to adapt to their culture," he says.

These years away from home prepared Uran for his role today. "I've never seen a leader like Uran before," says Vaughters, who credits Uran's emotional intelligence. "He leads by example, shows up ready and wants everyone to execute on the plan. He treats all the guys like he's their best friend. They just end up wanting to work for him. He knows how to lead out of love as opposed to dictatorship." But he's also a prankster.

Howes, the longest-tenured rider on the team, recalled that at February's Oro y Paz Uran convinced a soigneur (staffers who assist with numerous vital, and often thankless, team duties) that he was needed for all sponsor and media events -- not the kind of thing soigneurs usually go to. The soigneur "hates being in the spotlight," Howes says, "but Rigo convinced ESPN Colombia to do an interview and they're grilling the guy with all these tough questions about doping, and he's sweating bullets." Uran looked on until he was unable to hide his delight and revealed the joke, to the soigneur's instant relief. "Stuff like that happens at most races," Howes says. "Rigo's a pretty lighthearted guy."

Right now, Colombia is hot. "Bernal could've gone to any team on the WorldTour," says Vaughters, who adds that he expects to have to fight to keep Martinez when the rider's two-year deal ends after next season. Teams and agents now scour the country for emerging talent; Vaughters won't even discuss which riders he's scouting. "There are a lot of little 'Bernals' coming up," he says, "but as soon as some guy is seen as a hot prospect, all the teams are just right on top of it."

Says Uran: "It's a question of intervals. There was a time when Italy won everything, and then the Spanish. It goes in cycles. There's more investment [in Colombia] in the sport, which means there are higher quality athletes coming through."

But Colombia's continued success is far from assured. Government funding is still essential for the regional development teams and, Rendell points out, until very recently that has relied greatly on political patronage of whoever is in office at the time. Pros like Uran and Quintana try to offset that with personal sponsorship or foundation money, especially for local clubs, but they can't support every team. And few believe that Colombia's cycling federation has the resources or -- more important -- the will, to tackle the persistent doping problem that resulted in eight riders testing positive at the most recent Vuelta a Colombia. If pro teams don't feel confident in Colombians' performances, they'll be more reluctant to sign them.

But for now, Colombia is having a moment of success unlike any in its history. The question is whether -- and when -- a Colombian can win the biggest race in the world.

This year's course presents some unique challenges, like the use of cobblestone roads in Stage 9 from the one-day spring Paris-Roubaix classic. The cobbles, narrow, horrifically bumpy roads as many as 300 years old, are feared because they're notorious for causing crashes. They have been used in past editions, most recently in 2014. But never before has the Tour included so many of them (almost 22 kilometers). And neither Quintana nor Uran have any experience with them in a race situation. There are also only four of the steep mountaintop finishes favored by Colombian climbers.

On paper, the route doesn't favor either man, although Quintana enters as one of the top picks to win. Despite Uran's pedigree, and a stage win and second overall finish at his lone prep race in June, most European sports books don't even have him listed in the top 10 contenders.

It doesn't bother him. "It's more important that [the press] considers you the favorite when there are only four days to go," he says, "not a month and a half before."

Uran may be in the best place he's ever been to make a run at the win: in good shape, on a team that fully believes in him and will invest all its resources to support only his ride for the overall. Although he says he may race another four seasons yet, Uran is not content to wait. Quintana has arguably the strongest team in the race, and the form to match. For both riders, and for Colombia, the time to win a Tour has come.

Tour Colombia: ganadores, datos y resultados de todas las ediciones

Se viene el tour colombia 2024 y, por eso, es momento de recordar quiénes han sido los campeones, los podios y demás curiosidades que dejaron las anteriores ediciones..

Regresa el Tour Colombia. Luego de tres años sin ver acción de esta importante carrera, ya que la última edición había sido en 2020, el 2024 empieza con toda. Varias figuras del ciclismo mundial se verán las caras del martes 6 al domingo 11 de febrero, en las carreteras de nuestro país. Por eso, las expectativas son altas y los amantes de este deporte no se querrán perder ni un solo detalle.

El primer ganador de este evento fue Egan Bernal, cuando, en 2018, protagonizó un espectacular mano a mano con Nairo Quintana , quien culminó segundo en la clasificación general. El podio fue completado por Rigoberto Urán. Pero el palmarés siguió aumentando y en el 2019, ninguno de los tres corredores nombrados anteriormente volvieron a subirse a algún cajón. Hubo revolcón.

Para ese entonces, Miguel Ángel López gritó 'campeón', seguido de Iván Ramiro Sosa y Daniel Felipe Martínez. Las batallas en la montaña no se hicieron esperar y también brindaron un ciclismo de muy alto nivel. Hasta que llegó 2020. Si bien, en este entonces no sabíamos que iba a ser la última vez que disfrutaríamos del Tour Colombia, por un largo tiempo, el país se lo gozó con toda.

Allí, el vencedor fue Sergio Higuita, mientras que Daniel Felipe Martínez finalizó segundo. De hecho, hasta ahora, el bogotano es el único que ha repetido podio en dos ediciones diferentes. Para culminar, el tercer puesto quedó en poder de Jonathan Caicedo, corredor ecuatoriano y único extranjero que ha terminado entre los tres primeros. Por eso, para 2024 no se espera menos.

Hombres como Esteban Chaves, Harold Tejada, Fernando Gaviria, Rigoberto Urán, Egan Bernal, Mark Cavendish, Nairo Quintana, Richard Carapaz, Alejandro Osorio y Brandon Rivera se perfilan para dar un verdadero show, en el Tour Colombia 2024. Los recorridos prometen, la altimetría invita a pensar que todo será maravilloso y la calidad de ciclistas también está a la altura.

Ganadores, datos y resultados de las ediciones del Tour Colombia

Tour colombia 2018, tour colombia 2019, tour colombia 2020.

Tour Colombia: Alejandro Osorio wins stage 3 in Tunja

Contreras moves into yellow in Tunja, as Uran and Bernal come to the fore on demanding circuit

Colombian national champion Alejandro Osorio (GW Erco Shimano) won stage 3 at the Tour Colombia after outsprinting late-race breakaway companion Rodrigo Contreras (Nu Colombia) in Tunja.

Contreras and Osorio formed a larger eight-rider breakaway that emerged on the final lap of racing, but the Nu Colombia rider attacked inside 2km to go and gained a slim lead over the rest of the group.

Osorio quickly responded, however, and crossed the gap, connecting with Contreras' back wheel and winning the two-up sprint to the line.

Rigoberto Uran (EF Education-EasyPost) sprinted in for third place ahead of Jonathan Caicedo (Petrolike) in fourth, Egan Bernal (Colombia) in fifth, Iván Ramiro Sosa (Movistar Team) sixth, Adrián Bustamante (GW Erco Shimano) seventh and Edgar David Cadena (Petrolike) eighth. All were in the initial last-lap breakaway.

Niccolò Bonifazio (Corratec-Vini Fantini) won the reduced group sprint for ninth place, crossing the line just 11 seconds behind the breakaway.

Contreras moved into the overall race lead, taking the jersey from stage 2 winner and overnight leader Harold Tejada (Astana-Qazaqstan) thanks to his time bonus for second place. Tejada is now positioned in second overall at six seconds back, with Andrea Piccolo (EF Education-EasyPost) in third at 11 seconds.

WorldTour teams have dominated the Tour Colombia since its inception in 2018, but Osorio's victory and Contreras' stint in yellow showcases the depth on the domestic scene. Both riders previously had WorldTour experience, Osorio at Bahrain and Contreras at QuickStep and Astana.

"Colombian cycling has a lot of talent but it’s always difficult to win against WorldTour riders," explained Osorio. "I think that WorldTour riders have a little bit than us because they have more technology at their disposal. 

"I’m not saying that money is everything, but the equipment is very important, and so are details like osteopaths, nutritionists and so on. The level of a WorldTour team is imposing, but we’re strong riders and we’re fighters."

Osorio, nicknamed 'Pony,' was fired by Bahrain Victorious in the spring of 2022 for reportedly leaving their COVID-19 bubble, but he still retains hope of eventually returning to the WorldTour. 

"I’m 25 years old, and I still feel young," he said. "I’d like to go back to Europe, I think I have the talent. We’ll be going to Coppi e Bartali in March, so I’ll hope to do well there. With the national title and this stage, I’ve already achieved two dreams this season, and winning at Coppi e Bartali would be the third."

How it unfolded

The precise difficulty of the race profile was open to a variety of interpretations, but it was clear that any kind of circuit around Tunja, Colombia's highest departmental capital, would be a demanding one. There's no arguing with geography.

When Harold Tejada (Astana-Qazaqstan) seized the yellow jersey with an enterprising victory in Santa Rosa de Viterbo, he was already being asked to cast his mind ahead to the decisive summit finish on the Alto del Vino on Saturday. The Colombian could have guessed, however, that his rivals would be poised to probe him for any signs of weakness on Thursday's attritional stage, which took in of eleven laps of a 12.9km circuit.

Despite the rolling terrain and the altitude in excess of 2,700m, the first lap was run off at a brisk average pace of 43kph, and there wasn't a whole lot of respite even after the day's early break of Santiago Gómez (Team Sistecrédito), Bernardo Suaza (Petrolike) and Brayan Sánchez (Team Medellín) forged clear.

That trio would eventually carve out an advantage of more than three minutes, putting Gómez into the virtual race lead, but there was never any real danger of the situation spiralling out of control for the GC favourites. Like on Tuesday's opening stage, Astana-Qazaqstan and Movistar found common cause at the head of the bunch, though this time out, it was their fast men who were doing much of the work, with Mark Cavendish and Fernando Gaviria prominent.

Cavendish eventually swung off with a shade under four laps to go, but his show hadn't quite finished. As he soft-pedalled up the circuit's toughest climb, the Manxman entered into the festive spirit of the occasion, accepting a phone from a fan to take a rolling selfie and then slapping outstretched hands all way to the top of the ascent.

By then, the intensity of the peloton was steadily rising, while the break was down to two riders, Suaza and Gómez. With three laps to go, the gap was down to 1:50, and it was telling that EF Education-EasyPost's Andrea Piccolo was now to the fore. Once the road began to climb again, Richard Carapaz was soon on the offensive, and his acceleration prompted a brisk reaction from a quickly shrinking bunch.

Carapaz went again on the second climb of the circuit, splintering the bunch still further, with Colombian champion Alejandro Osorio (GW) counter attacking over the top. Piccolo was next to try his luck in a breathless sequence, and by the time they began the penultimate lap, there were only fifteen or so riders in the group of favourites, just 30 seconds down on the escapees.

On the final lap, a group of eight eventually took shape thanks to forcing from Uran, while Bernal was increasingly to the fore on the run-in. The front group split and reformed repeatedly in the closing kilometres, however, and it was Osorio and Contreras who slipped away in the finale, with the Colombian champion coming out on the top.

Behind, the finale was marred by a late crash, with Oscar Sevilla (Medellin) among the fallers. The 47-year-old, who shone on stage 2, was taken to hospital after the stage with injuries to his face and shoulder. 

Results powered by FirstCycling

Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*

Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets

After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59

Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

Get The Leadout Newsletter

The latest race content, interviews, features, reviews and expert buying guides, direct to your inbox!

Barry Ryan is Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation , published by Gill Books.

USA Crits: Alfredo Rodriguez and Alexis Magner sew up series title at Winston-Salem Cycling Classic

RideLondon Classique: Lorena Wiebes wins stage hat trick and GC in London

Ecuador leaves defending Olympic road race champion Richard Carapaz off team for Paris

Most popular, latest on cyclingnews.

10 contenders at Unbound Gravel – Can Swenson or Schiff make it two in a row?

Netflix Tour de France: Unchained returns with Tadej Pogačar among featured riders

London Academy: Changing women's cycling for the better

• Israel & Palestine
• United States

South America

Expotur colombia: trekking to the lost city.

Colombia’s Lost City (“Ciudad Perdida” in Spanish) is an ancient Tayrona ruins site abandoned during the Spanish conquest. It’s older than Machu Picchu and only reachable via a four-day trek through the jungle . You must do this trek as part of a guided tour — you cannot trek independently. I went with Expotur Colombia . In this post I’ll share my experience hiking in Colombia with them.

Only a few tour companies operate this trek: Expotur, Turcol, Magic Tours, Wiwa Tours, and Guias y Baquianos. If you book through your hostel or another agency, they’re just a middle-man for these agencies. Price is not a factor in choosing your trek — the Ciudad Perdida trek price is fixed and non-negotiable at $950,000 Colombian pesos ($312 USD).

I’m writing this review so you know exactly what to expect when embarking on a Ciudad Perdida Colombia tour with Expotur — both the good and the bad. These opinions are 100% my own. I paid for my trip just like you would and do not have any sort of relationship with the agency.

Before the trek

The Lost City trek starts in Santa Marta, about five hours from Cartagena and a short flight from anywhere else in the country. It’s a fun place for young backpackers to party and has great food and hostels, but otherwise not a lot to do.

You used to be able to roll up to the Expotur Colombia office the day before you wanted to start trekking and book a tour. But now, if you’re traveling in high season, you may find the treks all booked out for days. I’d recommend booking in advance if you’re in Colombia in November-March or August.

Luckily, Expotur is used to dealing with a high volume of bookings and makes the process easy and painless.

Communication and booking from abroad: 10/10

I didn’t do much research before selecting Expotur Colombia for my trek. Knowing that only a few companies operate the trek, and they all charge the same government-mandated price, made the decision easier. Plus Expotur has a reputation for giving back to the local Indigenous communities.

I emailed Expotur asking about my dates. We exchanged a couple of back-and-forth messages to answer some questions I had: would there be an English translator? When did I need to arrive in Santa Marta? Etc. They always responded within a few hours, and they always answered my questions completely.

When I was ready to book, I had to send them my passport information and make a 10% deposit payment. They sent me a PayPal link. I didn’t have to pay any additional foreign currency fees — the process was easy and painless. They informed me I could complete the payment with cash or credit card when I arrived in Santa Marta.

Then, a couple days before my trek, the agency sent me a reminder email confirming my booking. They asked if I would be able to come to the office the night before to complete the payment, but I told them it would not be possible and they said that wasn’t a problem, I could just do it in the morning after they picked me up.

Overall, Expotur Colombia gave off the impression that they were super organized and responsive to customers.

Meeting in Santa Marta: 6/10

As positive as my booking-from-abroad experience with Expotur was, things were not as smooth on the morning of the trek.

First, someone from the Expotur Santa Marta office arrived at my hostel to pick me up (and drive me the whopping 3 blocks to the office) an hour before they were supposed to. It turned out they were picking up multiple groups from my hostel and didn’t know who was in which group, so they mistakenly told me I was running late. Luckily I was just about ready to go. But I wish I’d been given the option to just go to the office myself rather than go through the disorganized pickup process.

Since I was in one of the earlier groups to be picked up, I was also one of the first people to pay and register. That part was done in five minutes. Since I wouldn’t be returning to Santa Marta after the trek, the staff clearly marked my bag to meet me at the final lunch spot.

But things got a bit more chaotic as more groups showed up to pay for their treks. In total, Expotur processed over 50 trekkers that morning, with only two staff. It wasn’t stressful or anything — it was clear that the staff just wasn’t ready for us yet — but it did feel like a waste of time. It would have been far more efficient if we’d been picked up in the same order that we’d be leaving for the trek, so we could leave in shifts.

Finally, the staff divided us into our actual trekking groups and sent us to the trucks to start our Expotur Ciudad Perdida adventure. It was almost 10 am — two and a half hours after I arrived at the office.

On the trail with Expotur Colombia

Once you leave Santa Marta, your life is in the hands of the staff at Expotur Colombia. The jungle on the way to the Ciudad Perdida is extremely remote. The guides’ radios are the only point of contact with the outside world. So it’s absolutely critical that the staff does everything right — to ensure your safety and enjoyment.

The guide: 5/10

The primary guide for my Lost City tour was Jorge. He was reserved, but quite knowledgeable about the history and culture of the Sierra Nevada.

The highlight of my experience with Jorge was the Ciudad Perdida tour itself. He provided in-depth knowledge about the ancient Tayrona civilization. He was able to answer everyone’s questions thoroughly. And he went above and beyond to tell us some stories about the grave robbers who pillaged the city in the mid-20th century — information the other groups didn’t get.

Jorge also gave informative nightly briefings about the Indigenous communities and the campesinos in the area, the history of the cocaine trade in the region, and the government’s efforts to protect the trail. Compared to the other Expotur Colombia groups, he spent more time talking with us about these issues and was more attentive to our questions.

Unfortunately, when it came to being a trekking guide, Jorge fell short. For instance, at the beginning of the trek he told us to stay between him in the lead and an assistant guide at the back. But on the trail, Jorge hung back to chat with the assistant the whole time. This meant we didn’t always know where to stop for fruit breaks or what to do when the path split.

But my biggest frustration with Jorge came on the morning of the Lost City tour. We finished breakfast early — around 5 am. Jorge asked us to meet at the exit to the camp in five minutes to leave. I ran to the restroom, thinking I had enough time. I was gone for maybe three minutes. But when I came back, Jorge and the group had already left — without even bothering to check if everyone was there.

I spent the next fifteen minutes looking for other Expotur Colombia guides who could radio Jorge before we figured out he’d already left. I ended up leaving the camp with another group and catching up with Jorge when we reached the Lost City. He didn’t even acknowledge that he’d left me behind. It struck me as very unprofessional.

If you prefer to be very independent on a trekking tour, you might enjoy trekking with Jorge. But if you want a high-energy guide who looks out for you at all times, Jorge is not a great fit.

The translator: 10/10

In addition to Jorge as our guide, our Expotur Colombia team included a translator — Jorge didn’t speak English. Santi (short for Santiago) was a great companion on the trail and picked up some of Jorge’s slack when it came to looking after the trekkers.

Santi lived in the United States for awhile, so his English was excellent. Instead of just memorizing the scripts the guides used, he really listened to exactly what Jorge was saying, so he could translate the nuances. Other translators I heard on the trek sounded more like they were just repeating things back like robots.

What’s more, Santi seemed very interested in the history and culture of the Tayrona. He had done a lot of reading about this civilization and was able to fill in details when Jorge didn’t know the answer to a question. It was also nice just to have a translator who genuinely cared about giving the best Ciudad Perdida tour instead of just going through the motions.

Santi also provided excellent customer service along the Lost City trek. When it started to rain on our second day, he was the one who made sure everyone had protection for our backpacks. When someone in my group got sick, he found some medicine for them. He always remembered who was vegetarian and was always the first one to ask if anyone needed anything.

Overall I would highly recommend Santi as a translator with Expotur Colombia.

The camps: 7/10

During the trek to Colombia’s Lost City, you sleep in open-air jungle lodges with bunk beds and hammocks. They’re surprisingly comfortable and charming.

Expotur Colombia uses two of its own camps (where you won’t run into people from other agencies) on the first and third nights. Both are clean (well, as clean as you can get in the jungle) and comfortable. They have enough beds for everyone — no one has to sleep in a hammock. They have cold-water showers, sanitary bathrooms, and even mirrors. Additionally and importantly, they have plenty of places to hang up wet clothes.

On the second night of the Ciudad Perdida Colombia tour, everyone from all the different agencies stays at the same camp — Paraiso. This is the least pleasant of the camps, as it’s extremely crowded. You have to eat dinner and breakfast in shifts, since the camp doesn’t have enough seating for everyone. Some people have to sleep in hammocks, because it doesn’t have enough beds for everyone. The lines for toilets and showers are long, and cleanliness takes a plunge for the worse.

Unfortunately, Paraiso is the only option for the second night, since it provides easy access to the Lost City in the morning. And I don’t blame the agency for it being less than perfect. It’s just something to be aware of before you book an Expotur Ciudad Perdida trip.

The food: 8/10

One of the best parts of a Lost City tour is indulging in the amazing food Expotur Colombia provides. (And hey, you’re trekking for six hours a day, so you can eat anything you want…right?)

Your group’s private chef freshly prepares three meals a day for you and your fellow trekkers. You get a decent amount of variety — pasta dishes, chicken, fish, beef, pork, rice, potatoes, soup, eggs, arepas, and more. No sad bologna sandwiches handed to you half-smushed on the side of the trail here! (We’ve all been on those tours…)

Expotur Colombia can accommodate vegetarians and other dietary preferences with no problem. In fact, the veggie dishes looked better than the meat dishes at least half the time.

In addition to meals, you’ll also stop along the trail for fruit breaks — watermelon, pineapple and oranges. (Who knows how they get so many watermelons to these remote places?) You’ll have snacks like popcorn and cheese puffs. You’ll have dessert and fresh-squeezed fruit juice with each meal. And you’ll have the option of coffee or hot chocolate each morning (and sometimes tea), and more coffee in the afternoons.

Expotur also provides drinking water for trekkers, so you don’t need to buy bottled water along the way. It’s treated with iodine and completely safe, and it doesn’t even taste that weird.

The activities: 9/10

The two main activities you’ll do while doing the Expotur Lost City Trek are hiking and visiting the ruins. Both are amazing (and exhausting).

The hiking on the Lost City trek is surprisingly difficult . It’s near-constant up and down, sometimes in the rain, always in extreme heat and humidity. But the Expotur staff understand that some people hike faster than others, and they never rush you to keep up with the 21-year-old backpackers at the front of the group.

The visit to the Lost City itself is on the morning of the third day. The tour takes about three hours and covers all the different sections of the city, along with a couple of great viewpoints.

The whole way, the scenery is spectacular. While other jungle treks I’ve done   mostly traverse dense forests, the trekking in Colombia is through the mountains — they just happen to be covered by virgin rainforest.

You will also get the opportunity to interact with the Indigenous Kogi communities who call this part of Colombia home. You’ll visit one of their villages on the second day, and on the third night, Expotur Colombia arranges for a spiritual leader to speak with your trekking group and answer questions about their lifestyle.

Another popular activity during the Lost City trek is swimming. The second and third camps both sit on the banks of rivers with natural swimming holes, and you can go for a dip at lunch on your second day, too. It’s the ideal way to cool off.

The one reason I didn’t give Expotur Colombia a perfect rating in this category is sometimes you arrive at camp really early in the afternoon (like 2 pm), and have nothing to do for the rest of the day. I highly recommend bringing some playing cards or a book to help pass the time.

Dealing with the unexpected: 10/10

One of the most important aspects of a tour company for me is how they deal with unexpected situations and emergencies. These events tend to expose the truth about how skilled the guide is, or whether the agency cares about its customers or is just out to make money.

The good news is, no emergencies came up while I was on the Lost City Trek with Expotur. Everything went smoothly — we barely even got any rain. To me, that’s an indication that the agency does a good job anticipating all problems and taking steps to make sure nothing goes wrong.

The one example I saw of how Expotur Colombia does this well is they have mules on hand to help sick or injured trekkers get out of the jungle. In an area this remote, with no road access and nowhere for a helicopter to land, you have few options if you can’t walk. Expotur arranged a mule for one guy in another group who had a severely infected mosquito bite, leaving his ankle so swollen he couldn’t put his boots on and a high fever. They organized it fast enough that it didn’t disrupt any of the other trekkers’ schedules at all.

Overall experience with Expotur Colombia: 7/10

Overall, my experience with Expotur Colombia was positive. While I was disappointed in my guide and the agency’s handling of departing for the trek, I was impressed with how smooth every other aspect of their operation runs. And I appreciate their support and sensitivity to the needs of the local Indigenous people. So I’d still recommend them over the other agencies offering this trek.

I should also say that my group trekked on the same schedule as two others from Expotur. Their guides were much more energetic and attentive. So I would recommend asking the agency for the name of your guide in advance. If you’re placed in Jorge’s group you may be able to request a change to a different group. Alternatively, if you don’t mind a guide who takes a very hands-off attitude, you might enjoy trekking with Jorge.

Whichever agency you choose, I highly recommend the trek to the Lost City in Colombia. It’s a jungle experience like no other — with a bit of culture too. You’ll surely enjoy the adventure no matter who you go with!

What do you look for in a jungle trekking tour company? Leave a comment and let me know!

Like this post? Pin it!

Bonus tip: Expotur also offers a highly rated option to tour Puntas Gallinas — a great addition to your trek if you have time.

Read more about traveling in Colombia here.

Carrie is the founder of Trains, Planes and Tuk Tuks. For more than seven years, she's been solo-backpacking around the world to places few other tourists dare to explore -- from Ethiopia to Nicaragua to Jordan and beyond. When she's not on the road, you can find her hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains and eating the world's best barbecue in her home city of Asheville, NC.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Wow, I would have seriously panicked if I had been in that situation with the guide! That said, the views look like they were well worth it. Thanks for this in depth post.

yeah, definitely worth it…just a little more stressful than I was expecting!

It’s nice to know that you had a good experience with this company! I want to go back to South America and explore Colombia!

Do ittt! I haven’t explored a ton of south america but colombia is definitely my favorite country so far.

Loved reading the details about your trek! Such beautiful jungle scenery-makes me want to visit one day.

It is really beautiful! I hope you get a chance to go!

OMG 4 days trek just to reach the lost city! Your ratings give a good picture of the trek planner. It is so good to know about their support and sensitivity to the needs of the local Indigenous people.

Yeah, they’ve taken a huge risk by letting trekkers through their ancestral homeland, so it’s super important to be respectful.

Sounds like a great trek, but sorry to hear about your experience with the guide. It should never be the case that a guide falls short for the thing he actually has to do (guiding) so I appreciate your honesty here …

Hah truth. I never hold back my criticism 🙂

Loved reading this post, I did the Lost City trek a couple of years ago and it brought back many happy memories. I went with one of the other agencies you mentioned, Magic Tours, and had a really great experience, but I think you’re right, a lot of that is down to who you get as your guide and translator. Can’t believe you got left behind on the big day! Glad you enjoyed it overall, it’s such an incredible trek.

Yeah, it’s all about the individual guides. It seemed like Magic Tours also did a better job spacing out their groups so it didn’t seem so crowded.

Can’t believe they left you! Oh man, way to persevere. Though it did look like a gorgeous trek Didn’t realize those ruins were older than Machu Picchu–so cool!

Yeah, the ruins are amazing! Relatively little is known about them compared to other ancient sites in South America.

Great post! Your bathroom break incident doesn’t sound like a great experience but I’m glad that you had a positive trip overall. Fruit breaks – YUMM! Pineapple would definitely be my fave!

100%! When I saw the pineapple I was soooo happy.

What an adventure! The four-day trek to Ciudad Perdidais with Expotur Colombia sounds like an excellent way to explore Colombia’s ancient Tayrona ruins. Too bad about the early morning pick-up – good thing you were ready an hour early! The check-in sounds tedious. And I can’t believe your guide left without you and didn’t even apologize. Hopefully Expotur will take your advice an implement a more efficient process and enhanced procedures to ensure trekkers don’t get separated from the guide. For me, safety is a priority. It sounds like Expotur does a lot right, but there is room for improvement.

Yeah, I was a bit disappointed considering how much credit they get from the guidebooks for being perfect.

Colombia is so high on my list, but I haven’t even considered doing a trek while there! I’m not sure I could withstand something that lasts 4 days but the Lost City does look spectacular!

It’s so worth it! Plenty of people on my trek had never done a multi-day hike before…you can do it 🙂

Carrie, the views look like they were well worth the effort 🙂 I liked your point system – it makes it easier to understand the difficulty level!!

thanks richa, glad it was helpful!

What an informative post! We’ve always wanted to do this trek, and this is super helpful. Thanks for your honest descriptions. Bookmarking this for later!

I’m most intrigue with the tribe more than anything – also 50 trekkers with 50 guides? Or is it 5:2. Im so sure you had a blast with your trip! More to come!

It was 15 trekkers to a group, 4 groups. But the groups also had 3 guides each. So yeah, a lot of people.

I am not much of a trekker, but there is still a lot of great information for people to choose to take a tour. I think you have it right when you examine how well the tour company handles emergency situations. Surely I would be a bit afraid of getting injured, or having an infected mosquito bite in the middle of a jungle. And I like the advice about asking for the name of your tour guide before taking the adventure. It sucks when you are landed with an un-fun guide.

yeah, it’s a bit scary — the only way out of the jungle if something happens is to ride a mule or walk.

You had a private chef!! That’s amazing 🙂 It’s nice to get spoilt when travelling.

First of all I had no idea that there was a lost city in Colombia, thanks for writing about it. And second thanks for sharing your candid experience with the tour. I can’t believe they left you behind without even acknowledging or apologizing for it! We were left behind once on a tour but the guide was terribly apologetic for not doing a head count before leaving.

Thanks for sharing about this trek. I loved the lush greenery in your pictures.

This is my first time hearing about this trek and it’s so worth the effort because it looks beautiful! How in-depth did you have to provide passport information for though? I would definitely be interested in trying this, but not sure if I’m comfortable giving out my complete passport information :/

Just name, passport #, expiration date I think? It’s pretty standard stuff for any trip you book from abroad.

The trek seems so adventurous and amazing. Thanks for this very informative review. I would love to visit Colombia soon!

I hope you get to go someday!

I can only imagine how scary it must be to realise the group had left you behind. We were almost left in a random town in Morocco by our bus driver, but luckily the group shouted until he stopped and let us back on! I love the way you have ranked every section and I think the lost city would be a lovely place to visit. Shame about Jorge!

Luckily there were plenty of other groups around to help out…that situation in Morocco sounds way scarier!

• Destinations