Colin Joyce has become Rally Cycling's all-season man. The talented all-rounder from Pocatello, Idaho, can mix it up with WorldTour sprinters, deliver results for his teammates on the climbs, and go for the overall win or win from a breakaway.

The 25-year-old, a stage winner at the 2016 Tour of Alberta and 2018 Arctic Race of Norway, began his 2020 season in Argentina's Vuelta a San Juan, finishing eighth in the 15.5km individual time trial, Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), Alvaro Hodeg (Deceuninck-Quickstep) and UAE Team Emirates' Fernando Gaviria and Sebastian Morano, who finished 10th in a group sprint contested by the UAE Team Emirates.

He finished in the top 10 twice in field sprints in high-altitude conditions at last week's Tour Colombia 2.1 and jumped into the breakaway on Sunday's queen stage. Joyce also finished 14th on the fourth stage, Santa Rosa de Viterbo, with Gavin Mannion.

"It's been a good week so far," Joyce told Cycling News before Sunday's stage start. It's been a good week so far," Joyce told Cycling News before the start of Sunday's stage. It's been a hard week of racing," Joyce told Cycling News before the start of Sunday's stage.

Hard might be an understatement. The Colombian race never set foot below 2,500 meters in elevation, and the final stage to Alto del Berhon finished at 3,290 meters. Joyce, along with fellow Idaho native Matteo Jorgenson (Movistar), managed the final breakaway of the race, ultimately succumbing to the elevation gain and the relentless pursuit of the pack.

"I grew up at 4,500 feet elevation. It's not super high, but it's high altitude," Joyce said, commenting on his ability to adapt to the high altitude of South America.

"Unless you live here, you can never get used to 9,000 feet elevation. But at the same time, the important thing is not to get too red. You have to stay within your limits. In a bike race, you can feel yourself starting to go pretty deep.

According to Cycling News, Joyce does not consider himself an escape artist, but both of his professional victories have come from breakaways: at the 2016 Tour of Alberta, the Axeon Development led by Axel Merckx team, but survived Lethbridge's complicated opening stage. Joyce eventually outpaced Alex Howes (EF Pro Cycling) and current teammate Robin Carpenter to claim his first pro win.

In 2018, he ran for the rally at the Arctic Tour of Norway, where he made a move that got him stuck and outran Denis van Winden (Israel Cycling Academy) of the Netherlands to win.

"I'm actually not too far into the breakaway," he claimed on Sunday. I read an article the other day [in an American publication] that said I was a breakaway rider, but I've only been in the breakaway three times. It's just a day when I'm part of a bike race and I'm a little bit off the front and in the mix, and it's not a good day for me or a fun day. I wouldn't call myself a breakaway rider, but I just want to enjoy racing on my bike."

In Colombia, with rally escape specialist Robin Carpenter suffering from altitude and stomach ailments, the team focused its hopes on Gavin Mannion's overall class. Joyce gave his all for his teammate on stage 4, finishing at the 2,732-meter-high Alto de Martelías, just 2.9 km from the finish.

Joyce got Mannion into the chaos of the Duitama urban area and kept his teammate near the front on the final uphill descent. Mannion described the finale as "crazy fast" and praised Joyce for her assistance. The responsiveness of his teammates in the field sprints played an important role in Mannion's success.

"The run to the last town with 10 km to go was like a sprint finish," Joyce said. 'Luckily, my team prepared me perfectly. And Colin took care of me through the chaos of the climb out of town."

Once the job to Mannion was done, Joyce shut things down and soft-pedaled, absorbing and enjoying the cheers of the enthusiastic Colombian crowd.

"It was cool coming up from the back by myself and riding through the tunnel of people," Joyce said. 'Everyone was yelling and they would move out of the way at the last second. I came in 150th and they still treated me like I won the bike race. It was a cool experience."

Of the spectators along the Colombian route, he said, "It's amazing to see, though, the sheer number of people. It's just that sometimes the spectators are a little too far off the road and it can be a little dangerous." But even so, it's great to have so many fans and spectators coming to watch the games."[8

When Larry heads to Europe this spring for the team's first block of races in Italy and France, Joyce will not be racing in front of that size crowd again. Before that, however, he will return to his home in Idaho to rest and then train in warmer weather in Santa Rosa, California. He is obviously hoping for results from his European expedition, but according to Cycling News, he has not decided on a specific race.

"It's hard to target a specific race," he said. 'It's better to focus on one period of time rather than another. If I have a good run, I can do well in any race. My goal is just to keep growing and getting better and better.

True to Joyce's all-rounder nature, she has no favorite type of race and cannot choose between one-day events and stage races.

"I haven't done a lot of one-day races," she says. 'Last year we got to do more and it was a lot of fun. This year we have a lot more races scheduled, so I think it will be fun to mix it up with those. I mean, anytime you're racing on a bike it's fun."