BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS. Paula Patiño’s presence in the Movistar Team opens new horizons for Latin America’s women’s cycling. This 25-year-old youngster from La Ceja, in the Antioquia department, has earned a place in the big leagues after becoming the biggest hopeful in her country. Her climbing skills and impressive progression in all terrains have certainly made her one to follow.

ABSOLUTE WORLD CLASS. While her 2020 Giro Rosa was for many a revelation of her skills in front of the big public, 2022 was undoubtedly her confirmation as a rider worth the sport’s highest tier. Getting over difficult physical times at the start of the season, the Colombian rose in 2022 with her splendid work for Van Vleuten in Giro + Tour, and shone brightly when given individual responsibility. She got into the top-ten of two renowned WorldTour events -the Itzulia (9th) and the Vuelta a Burgos (10th)- and achieved two podium results: 3rd in both the Clásica de Navarra in Irurtzun and most notably the Tour de l’Ardèche, her first European top-3 in a stagerace.

RELIABLE GAMBLE. Brought into competitive cycling at the age of 13 by Hernando Gaviria -father of Fernando- in La Ceja, Antioquia, Paula later cut her teeth at the UCI’s World Cycling Centre in Aigle (Switzerland), an initiative for the development of young riders in growing cycling countries. That solid preparation base was a guarantee for a signing him at only the second year of existence of the Movistar Team in the women’s peloton. “Even in my happiest dreams I couldn’t hope of getting up to this place,” described Paula in 2018, maybe not knowing he would wear the jersey for a good chunk of her life -already into her fifth season in 2023-.