In the previous installment of the Notes, we threatened to comment on the sporting event that captured the international spotlight: the Baja California Cycling Tour.
A decade earlier, Nadia Comaneci and the Romanian Olympic gymnastics team were in Tijuana, and Raúl Ramírez played tennis on the court that they set up in the Municipal Auditorium, where the then girl was also presented, who caused a sensation in the Olympic Games, with performances perfect, which earned him the highest rating.
Ramírez, from Ensenada, at that time was in the elite of white sports and teaming up with Brian Gottfried, they were the sensation couple in professional tennis, winners of many doubles titles.
Both events were showcase events, but out of state and possibly Mexico, they didn’t get much media coverage.
The Baja California Cycling Tour experienced several stages, of which we remember, the joust promoted by Mr. Vallejo, from Mexicali, but it was a local event.
And the same thing happened when Fernando Trujillo, president of the Baja California State Cycling Association, focused on cycling in the state and one or another cyclist who came from California, was in charge of organizing it.
At the beginning of the 80’s, the trio of which we have already mentioned, the lawyer Aurelio Calva Flores, the engineer Jorge Arturo Valencia Roa and the doctor José Juan Martínez Benedet, from their own pockets, organized the Cycling Tour of Baja California, which was held in a weekend.
There was not much budget, which they got from the State Government in the middle of that time and then yes, the Baja California Cycling Tour became international.
The tour was already from Sunday to Sunday, with a lot of participation, including those who managed to shine internationally, such as Greg LeMond, who as a professional won the road world championship twice and won three titles in the Tour de France.
They also rode the roads of Baja California, wearing the uniform of the Seven Eleven team, Davis Phinney and the brothers Wayne and Dale Statina, who won a gold medal in the Olympic Games.
In one of the editions of the Tour of Baja California, this team, Seven Eleven, signed Raúl Alcalá as a professional and took him to compete in Europe.
Professional teams became interested in the move to BC, where there was tremendous competition and the cash prizes were quite attractive.
The Cuban national team participated in one of the events, running into the pedal and fiber professionals, those who aspired to glory in European competitions.
And in some of the editions the Aztec national team was also present, with the riders who were concentrated in the Mexican Olympic Sports Center, including Octavio López from Tijuana.
The level of competition in the Tour of BC was so high that professional teams included it in their competition program, before leaving for Europe, to the grand prix.
In fact, the Tour of BC was the preamble for the teams that would travel to Colorado to see the Coors Classic in action, which was the last stop before starting the European adventure.
What good times, those and since there is no more space for the Notes, we leave them up to here, continue to use a face mask and antibacterial gel, in addition to keeping a healthy distance.