Nairo Quintana, Rigoberto Uran and Fernando Gaviria understandably dominate the headlines when it comes to Colombian riders in the WorldTour but Jhonatan Restrepo has been quietly building a solid reputation for himself at Katusha-Alpecin.
Signed as a neo-pro in 2016, the quick-finishing 23-year-old has not yet won a race on the WorldTour but there are signs of encouragement after a promising start to the season in 2017. Although his campaign was disrupted by injury the softly-spoken Colombian has big plans for next year, including a shot at glory in the Tour Down Under.
"I had a season of two halves,” he told Cyclingnews at Katusha’s recent training camp in Mallorca, Spain.
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Restrepo finished tenth overall in the Tour Down Under in January and picked up the best young rider's jersey for his efforts. That performance was backed up by fourth in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race and upon his return to Europe he claimed second place behind the unstoppable Alejandro Valverde in the Tour of Murcia.
Although Restrepo went slightly off the boil after that, he returned in July at the Tour of Austria with plans on another GC assault. A top-15 result in the prologue was promising enough but on stage 2 he crashed out with a broken collarbone.
He returned to action in August but lingering issues with his back saw him pull up in almost every race.
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