Fernando Gaviria

Fernando Gaviria Rendón (born 19 August 1994) is a Colombian professional road and track racing cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam . He is well known as a sprinter. Riding for the Colombian national cycling team, Gaviria came to international attention at the 2015 Tour de San Luis, where he beat former world champion Mark Cavendish in two sprint finishes. His first major Grand Tour wins came at the 2017 Giro d'Italia. He is the brother of track cyclist Juliana Gaviria. His nickname is "Quetzal splendente", from the brightful and colourful South American bird Quetzal. Its colours recall his world championship titles, his Colombia and "la maglia Ciclamino" won at Giro d'Italia.

Career Early career

Before his road career, Gaviria won the omnium and madison events at the 2012 UCI Juniors Track World Championships. In 2014, he won the under-23 Pan-American road race. He also competed in the 2014 Tour de l'Avenir. Although he did not win a stage, he won the bunch sprint behind the breakaway on the first stage and ended the race second in the points competition. Later that year he won the omnium in the London round of the 2014–15 UCI Track Cycling World Cup.

Gaviria's first major road cycling winning streak started in January 2015 at the Tour de San Luis, one of the major early-season cycling races. He won a surprise victory in the first stage of the race, opening his sprint early and beating 2011 world champion Mark Cavendish of the team into second place. Cavendish said after the race that he had not heard of Gaviria before the race. Gaviria then won the third stage of the race, again beating Cavendish into second place. Cavendish won the final stage of the event, with Gaviria finishing a close second.

Following these high-profile victories, there were reports that several UCI World Tour teams were seeking to sign Gaviria, including , though he committed his 2015 season to riding with the Colombian national team. Later reports suggested that his most likely 2016 team was Cavendish's own team. In February 2015, Lefevere announced that Gaviria would be undergoing tests with after the UCI Track Cycling World Championships, a further move towards a contract for 2016. Lefevere also said that such a contract would not prevent Gaviria competing in the 2016 Summer Olympics. Following these tests, Gaviria signed a contract for 2016 with , along with fellow Colombian Rodrigo Contreras. Gaviria's plans to ride in the 2016 Olympic Games were affirmed by Lefevere; he also suggested that Gaviria might ride as a stagiaire for the team during 2015.

In February 2015, Gaviria competed for Colombia in the track World Championships in the omnium competition. Although he won none of the six events, he was consistent throughout. In the concluding points race, he was able to gain an early lap on the field, giving him a large advantage; he was then able to mark his closest rival, Elia Viviani, and secured a comfortable overall victory to win the rainbow jersey.

Etixx–Quick-Step (2015–2018) Gaviria made his debut for as a stagiaire in August 2015 at the RideLondon–Surrey Classic. He finished in eighth position, the highest-placed rider. His next race for the team was in the Czech Cycling Tour, where won the first stage, a team time trial. The following day Gaviria won his first individual stage victory for the team, winning a reduced bunch sprint. After this race, it was the Tour of Britain, where Gaviria managed to take one stage win ahead of several world class sprinters including André Greipel and Elia Viviani.

2016 began almost as strongly as the previous season. He won the Team Time Trial with and also took another stage at the Tour de San Luis. He crashed out later in the race preventing another victory. In February he won a stage and the points classification at the new race Tour La Provence. In early March he became the first rider to win two gold medals in the Omnium at the Track Cycling World Championships by defending his title from the previous year. He won stage 3 of Tirreno–Adriatico, his first victory at World Tour level.

In 2017, he was named in the start list for the Giro d'Italia and won Stage 3 from Tortolì to Cagliari in a sprint finish, taking the lead in the general classification in the process. He achieved further success by winning Stages 5, 12 and 13 in bunch sprints, making him the first Colombian to win four stages in a single Giro d'Italia. In July 2018, he was named in the start list for the Tour de France. Gaviria won stage 1 of the Tour de France, starting Day 2 in the Yellow Jersey. Gaviria and other major sprinters such as André Greipel and Dylan Groenewegen were unable to finish stage 11 which was the third major hilly alps stage within the time limit and were eliminated. Gaviria suffered a broken collarbone at the Tour of Turkey and was forced to abandon, ending his 2018 campaign.

UAE Team Emirates (2019–2022) Shortly after his injury at the Tour of Turkey, it was announced that Gaviria was joining the team on a three-year contract from the 2019 season. In his first season with the team, he won the third stage of the Giro d'Italia, his fifth win total in the race. Earlier that season, he won a stage of the UAE Tour, and ended the year with two more wins at the Tour of Guangxi.

Gaviria won six more races in 2020, including the Giro della Toscana one-day race. In 2021, he only saw one victory: stage three of the Tour de Pologne.

Gaviria started 2022 in the Middle East, winning two stages and the points classification of the Tour of Oman. Three months later, he finished second at Eschborn–Frankfurt before going on to compete in the Giro d'Italia. Here, he finished second on two stages, third on one and second in the points classification. At the end of the season, he obtained no notable results and was criticized by Joxean Fernández, the manager of UAE Team Emirates, who questioned his "focus and motivation".

Movistar Team (2023–2025) For the 2023 season, Gaviria joined on a one-year contract, bringing home two stage wins in his initial season, one at the Tour de Romandie and one at the Vuelta a San Juan. He started off 2024 with a win on day one of the Tour Colombia, later placing second on stage four.

In November 2025, Gaviria was handed a suspended prison sentence for driving whilst intoxicated in Monaco.

Caja Rural–Seguros RGA (2026–) After Movistar did not renew Gaviria's contract, Caja Rural "offered Gaviria a lifeline to continue his career".

Major results Road

2012 1st Time trial, National Junior Championships 2013

2014 1st Road race, Pan American Under-23 Championships Central American and Caribbean Games

4th Road race 2015 (4 pro wins) Tour de San Luis 1st Stages 1 & 3 Czech Cycling Tour 1st Stages 1 (TTT) & 2 1st Stage 4 Tour of Britain Pan American Games 8th Time trial 9th Road race 8th RideLondon–Surrey Classic 2016 (7) 1st Paris–Tours 1st Grand Prix Impanis-Van Petegem Tour La Provence 1st Points classification 1st Stage 3 Tour de Pologne 1st Stages 2 & 4 Tour de San Luis 1st Stages 1 (TTT) & 2 1st Stage 3 Tirreno–Adriatico 2nd Gran Piemonte 2nd Kampioenschap van Vlaanderen 6th Gent–Wevelgem 7th Halle–Ingooigem 10th Dwars door Vlaanderen 2017 (14)

Giro d'Italia 1st Points classification 1st Stages 3, 5, 12 & 13 Held & after Stage 3 Tour of Guangxi 1st Points classification 1st Stages 1, 2, 3 & 6 Vuelta a San Juan 1st Stages 1 & 4 1st Stage 6 Tirreno–Adriatico 1st Stage 1 Volta ao Algarve 1st Stage 4 Tour of Britain 4th Primus Classic 5th Milan–San Remo 8th Road race, UCI World Championships 9th Gent–Wevelgem 2018 (9) Tour de France 1st Stages 1 & 4 Held & after Stage 1 Held after Stages 1–2 Tour of California 1st Points classification 1st Stages 1, 5 & 7 Colombia Oro y Paz 1st Points classification 1st Stages 1, 2 & 3 1st Stage 1 Vuelta a San Juan 2019 (6) Giro d'Italia 1st Stage 3 Held after Stage 3 Tour of Guangxi 1st Stages 1 & 5 Vuelta a San Juan 1st Stages 1 & 4 1st Stage 2 UAE Tour 2nd Three Days of Bruges–De Panne 4th Münsterland Giro 2020 (6) 1st Giro della Toscana Vuelta a San Juan 1st Stages 2, 4 & 7 1st Stage 2 Vuelta a Burgos 1st Stage 2 Tour du Limousin 7th Milano–Torino 2021 (1) 1st Stage 3 Tour de Pologne 3rd Grand Prix de Fourmies 10th Brussels Cycling Classic 2022 (2) Tour of Oman 1st Points classification 1st Stages 1 & 6 2nd Eschborn–Frankfurt 2023 (2) 1st Stage 5 Tour de Romandie 1st Stage 4 Vuelta a San Juan 2nd Milano–Torino 7th Clásica de Almería 2024 (1) 1st Stage 1 Tour Colombia 2025 5th Trofeo Ses Salines 9th Omloop van het Houtland 2026 2nd Ronde van Limburg 10th Clásica de Almería

Grand Tour general classification results timeline Grand Tour 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Giro d'Italia 129 — DNF DNF 109 128 118 137 — — Tour de France — DNF — — — — — DNF — IP Vuelta a España — — 147 — — — — — — —

Classic results timeline Monument 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Milan–San Remo — 795 — 16 91 113 — 129 — Tour of Flanders — — — — 78 — — — — — Paris–Roubaix — — — — — —NH DNF — — Liège–Bastogne–LiègeHas not contested during his career Giro di Lombardia Classic 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Milano–Torino — — — — —7 — —2 — Brugge–De PannePreviously stage race —2 — 14 — DNF 14 Gent–Wevelgem —69 — 21 — — — DNF DNF Dwars door Vlaanderen —10 90 — 22NH — — 92 — Eschborn–FrankfurtNH — DNF 25 — — —2 — Paris–Tours —1 28 — — — — DNF —

+ Legend — Did not compete DNF Did not finish IP In progress

Track

2012 UCI World Junior Championships

2013 Pan American Championships

Bolivarian Games

2nd Omnium, National Championships 2014

1st Omnium, UCI World Cup, London 2015 Pan American Games

2016

2019 Torneo Internacional de Pista de Cali 1st Madison (with Juan Arango) 2nd Omnium 2023 Pan American Championships