As Le Tour approaches rapidly, memories of Tours past come to the fore, and riders who may have gone unnoticed for the remainder of the racing season are once again lauded for their performances on the biggest stage there is. We know them as the Evanescent Riders.
In 1993, one such rider was the Colombian climber Álvaro Mejía. ’93 was also the year that former ER90’s subject Zenon Jaskula made his mark, then just as promptly disappeared. In fact, ’93 could probably be recognised as the greatest Tour for such fleeting performances, as it was at the height of jet-fueling in the peloton. Even Tony Rominger made a ‘miraculous recovery from hay fever’ that year, aided and abetted by the good Dr Ferrari’s Magic Climbing Potion (No. 5). And always there, hanging on like a limpet in the mountains, was Senor Mejía, resplendent in his Specialized foam-dome helmet, often in arm warmers, no matter how hot the day, or how hot the heat being applied by Mig, Rominger, Cappucino et al. Just there, not really doing anything. I don’t recall him attacking once, but I don’t recall him getting dropped either.
To be fair, Mejia wasn’t a total flash in the pan, as he’d won the Tour’s Young Rider category in ’91, so the little guy had some talent. Add to this wins in the Ruta du Sud and Vuelta a Murcia, and we see that he could go uphill over several stages pretty well. He even managed to get into the final selection at the Worlds in Stuttgart in ’91, but not surprisingly was blown away in the sprint by Bugno, Big Mig and Steven Rooks. The way he bridged across to them after being gapped on the final climb was pretty impressive for a lightweight climber though…
Being on the Motorola team after they merged with Colombian outfit Postobon at the start of the season really shot Álvaro into the spotlight. I’m only speculating here, but I’d guess he was on the ’93 Tour roster to support Andy Hampsten in the hills. Yet by the time they hit the Champs Elyssees, Mejía had outshone his team leader to end up 4th on GC. Not that Andy would’ve minded, being the stand-up guy that he is, and he speaks very highly of Mejía in this excellent interview on Cycling Inquisition. (He also explains Mejía’s habit of over-dressing.)
Like any true Evanescent, Mejía didn’t back up his biggest result in the following year’s Tour, finishing outside the top 30, and only managed a 16th in ’95. He didn’t get close to the front in the mountains, and retired at the end of the season, returning to Colombia to become a Doctor, and had a stint as team medico for the Movistar team (as far as I can make out from the little information available on the googlewebs). Maybe he was inspired to further his medical knowledge after his time in the thick of the EPO era. Whatever the case, Álvaro Mejía spent time mixing it up with the biggest names in the sport, and no-one can take that away from him.
Salud Álvaro!
Check out his sweet steel Merckx/Caloi here…
[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/brettok@velominati.com/Mejia/”/]
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We don't see any Evanescent riders these days, do we?
Great story Brett, but despite Cycling Inquisition and Andy Hampsten's assertions I'm pretty sure Postobon were never absorbed by or became a part of the Motorola set up. Mejia was poached from them for sure, but Postobon carried on as a separate entity until 1996, the same year Motorola ended their sponsorship.
Another fine contribution to the series. Thanks, Brett. Apart from the infernal musical accompaniment (why do they do that?), that video clip is great, too. (Am saving the AH interview for later, to savor when I have uninterrupted time.)
Nice one Brett. I had completely forgotten our little friend and Jaskula! Wow names from an era where SBS was my only link to this world, albeit for 30 minutes a night.
Thank you for this. Excellent stuff.
Nice one, Bretto!
Never heard of Mejia, so thanks for the history lesson.
Not sure about the sunnies strap, they've caught on BIG TIME for frat dudes in the U.S.!
Looking forward to The Tour!
Nicely done Brett!
A nice hors d'oeuvre to prepare our palates for the next few weeks. Merci beaucoup!
nice...i haven't heard of him either.
So thanks for the lesson, just proves there is always room to learn.
But, but, but, what you are saying is, it was not his innate Colombian climbing skills? Was Big Mig as juiced as everyone else? I never considered that one.
Also, I would have bet a lot of money that Worlds was a three up sprint finish, somehow MejÃa was written out of my memory. And he was so far behind by the finish line he didn't show up in the photos.
Maybe the arm warmers were due to some cultural aversion to dark skin, the Filipino part of my family are tan conscious.