Postobón (cycling team) should not be confused with Team Manzana Postobón.
Postobón | |
Registered: | Colombia |
Disbanded: | 1996 |
Discipline: | Road |
Season: | 1986–1988 1989 1990–1992 1993–1996 |
Oldname: | Postobón–Manzana / Postobón–Ryalcao (Europe) Postobón–Manzana Postobón–Manzana–Ryalcao Postobón–Manzana |
Postobón was a Colombian based professional road bicycle racing cycling team active from 1986 to 1996. The team was sponsored by the Colombian beverage manufacturers Postobón. The team name was sometimes Manzana–Postobón after one of the most popular drinks that the beverage manufacturer produced.
The team came into existence the year after the creation of the Café de Colombia-Pilas Varta-Mavic. The first manager of the Café de Colombia team was José Raúl Meza Orozco but he joined Postóbon. Asdrubal Salazar, Elkin Dario Rendón Rojas, José Alfonso López Lemus and Narsutis Dumbauskas would be involved in the managing of the team of the ten years of its existence.
Luis Herrera rode the last two years of his career with the team. Chepe González, a stage winner in the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia began his career with the team. The team obtained success and challenged the dominance of Café de Colombia in the Vuelta a Colombia with Pablo Wilches, Gustavo Wilches and José González. On February 22, 1995, three cyclists of the team - Néstor Mora, Hernán Patiño and Augusto Triana were killed while training on a highway in Colombia when they were hit by a truck.[1]