RISE TO FAME. The beginning of Iván Sosa in cycling were not so conventional, as the Colombian was focused on finishing high school – and used a bike to go from home to the ‘instituto’, a heavy, MTB one. It wasn’t until he finished 11th grade, the last in Colombia, when the Pasca native, supported by his uncle Joaquín, an avid cyclist, starting taking cycling more seriously and not just as a weekend distraction. His excellent performances in Colombia’s Vuelta de la Juventud in 2015, where he won the Queen stage at just 18 years of age, opened him the doors of European cycling.
A DECISIVE YEAR. Helped by an Italian ‘headhunter’, Sosa raced during the 2016 season with the amateur squad Maltinti Lampadari, where he shone brightly in the always-competitive ‘dilettanti’ scene. From there, he took the pro leap in 2017 towards Gianni Savio’s Androni Giocattoli, leaving a good impression on mountainous terrain that year and making his real breakthrough in 2018. 6th overall, against the biggest names in his country, at the Colombia Oro y Paz; race leader in the Tour of the Alps; winner of four GCs (Bihor, Sibiu, Adriatica Ionica Race and the Vuelta a Burgos (!!), including a stage win atop Neila); victor at one of the most demanding stages of the Tour de l’Avenir, against McNulty and Pogacar – those results made inevitable for him to jump straight into one of the best WorldTour squads, Sky, in 2019.
PLENTY STILL AT REACH. Iván would again snatch quite some wins in his three years with the British squad: another Burgos GC (2019), with 2x Neila and another 2x Picón Blanco; the Queen stage of the Route d’Occitanie (2019), against no less than Alejandro Valverde; the overall classification of the Tour de La Provence (2021), with a sensational Mont Ventoux victory in the process; and two stagerace victories in his Movistar Team debut in 2022: the Vuelta a Asturias and Le Tour de Langkawi, also claiming the Queen stage at both (Alto del Acebo and Genting Highlands). In 2023, he made the GC podium at the Vuelta a Asturias (3rd, behind team-mate Rubio), came 6th atop the Mont Ventoux and 8th overall in the Route d’Occitanie.
