Zipaquirá, Colombia

As word spread of Colombian cyclist Egan Bernal’s imminent victory in the Tour de France over the weekend, his working-class hometown, high up in the Andes, was already prepping what it hopes will be the next generation of champions.

Children as young as 8 years old, decked out in Lycra bodysuits and reflective glasses, gathered here on a half-mile stretch of road for the kind of amateur races that gave Bernal—the first Colombian to win the Tour de France—his start 15 years ago.

“More Egans, that’s what we want to find,” said Carlos Muñoz, 59, as riders zoomed by, swerving around street dogs. Muñoz, who has been running cycling classes for underprivileged kids in Zipaquirá for 25 years and worked with Bernal in his earliest ventures into mountain biking, wiped away tears as his former pupil crossed the finish line.

“Now he’s a man and the best sportsman we have in Colombia,” he said.