The family chaves torres is plunged into deep sadness, after the death of Germán, the father, and Germán Enrique, the eldest son, who lost their lives in a traffic accident on Sunday, while doing their cycling training.
They both went out to train very early and around one in the afternoon a truck hit them. German Enrique Chaves he lost his life immediately and his father managed to be taken to the Savannah University Clinic in which he died at about 4:30 in the afternoon. (Germán Chaves, the list of winners of the cyclist who died tragically)
New tragedy in Colombian cycling: Germán Chaves died hit by a van)
‘I was happy’
Germán Enrique was a cyclist for the team Coldeportes Zenu, then he went to EPM under the technical direction of Raul Mesa and this year built with Sistecrédito, from DT, Gabriel Jaime Vélez.
A few weeks ago he was crowned champion of the Fusagasuga Classic and was very excited to compete in the return to colombia from June 16 to 25 next.
TIME talked to his brother jonathan chaveswho is also a cyclist, as he belongs to the EPM team, who told details of what happened.
«Generally the three of us trained, but that Sunday we didn’t, because I was on rest and I didn’t go out,» he said.
Germán and his son left at about 8 in the morning from Choconta, Cundinamarca, for Sunday training and were returning home around one in the afternoon, when the accident happened.
«He was very excited to ride the Tour of Colombia, because that title in Fusagasugá kind of gave him wings,» said Jhonatan, with a broken voice.
his career
The 28-year-old cyclist was third in the youth classification in the 2014 Tour of Colombia; third in the classification of young people in the Tour of San Luis in Argentina, in 2015; runner-up in the Under-23 category of the time trial at the 2017 National Road Races.
That same year he won the first stage of the Youth Tour that ended in Riosucio. In addition, in 2018 he was second in the youth classification in the Vuelta a Aragón and third in the mountains of the Community Cycling Tour of Madrid, while in Colombia it reproduced the title of the Return to Boyaca.
“We are very saddened by what has happened. I live in Bogotá and that’s why I stayed at home that Sunday, I was on a break, but my sister called me and told me the news that devastated me,» said the young rider.
And he added: «I don’t remember when the last time we saw each other was, it’s just that at the moment remembering that is complicated, there are so many things in the head that one is not clear,» Jhonatan said.
When he received the call from his sister, Marcela, Jhonatan couldn’t believe what he was hearing and immediately headed for the accident site.
his words
“What I do remember clearly is that we spoke on Saturday night and on Sunday he called me before going out to train. He told me that he was happy about the Vuelta, that he had a lot of courage to run it ”, Jonathan continued.
«Germán greeted me and told me that he was going to go out with my dad to do the training route, but I didn’t notice anything strange, he was happy, as I tell him,» Jhonatan said.
The young cyclist recounted that no one is well at home, that his mother is inconsolable and that he has not been able to speak with Sonia, German Enrique’s wife, and with Salomethe daughter of only seven years.
“He had come to live in Chocontá, because they were in Paipa, Boyaca, and he had always told me that he felt comfortable again next to our parents, but look what happened,» he said.
For Jhonatan, the loss of his father and his brother, whom he will consider as his mentor, is something that hurts him and that he will never forget.
“I have not been able to speak with Sonia and even less with Salomé. I don’t want to think about what they are going through,» Jhonatan said.
(Germán Chaves: the details of the accident that claimed his life and that of his father)
(‘A microsleep’: this is known about the accident in which the cyclist Germán Chaves died)
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