Costa Rican cyclist Amador makes history at Tour de France

LISIEUX, France (AP) -- Andrey Amador grew up admiring record-setting Tour de France riders like Lance Armstrong, and now he's making a bit of history himself.

The 24-year-old Costa Rican is the first rider from Central America to compete in cycling's greatest race, and he says it's an honor. But more than blazing a trail, he wants to start a trend.

"I think what's more important is that it opens a path for other generations of riders who are coming up," he told The Associated Press in an interview.

The Movistar team rider got his chance only because spots on team's Tour roster had opened up after tragedy. First, Spain's Xavier Tondo died in May after getting crushed between his car and a garage door in a residential complex outside Granada.

Last month, mountain specialist Juan Mauricio Soler of Colombia - which has been one of Latin America's top sources of pro cyclists over the years - sustained severe brain injuries in a crash in the Tour of Switzerland.

Amador had a crash of his own - albeit far less serious - in his Tour debut on Saturday, going down with several other riders in the Stage 1 ride in the Western Vendee region. He's been racing with ankle pain ever since.

"It's getting better day by day. Leaving the injury aside, the will to compete and the needs of the team are the things that are keeping me in the race and trying to give 100 percent," he said.

Amador, who has some Russian ancestry, said he got his start in cycling "with a little luck," picking it up after hitching a ride along with some amateur riders years ago.

As he progressed, Amador said he got a boost from Costa Rican Jose Adrian Bonilla, a former rider on the Kelme-Comunidad Valenciana team, who shared his contacts in Spain "so I too could try my luck in Europe."

"I admired a lot (Costa Rican rider) Federico Ramirez. Also Jose Adrian Bonilla," Amador said. "And Lance Armstrong, when he was winning all those Tours."

Amador showed his potential to Europe's cycling world by winning the prologue of the Tour de l'Avenir - a key competition for budding riders - in 2008 and placing second overall. The next year, he rode in the week-long Paris-Nice race, but broke his collarbone in a spill in the final stage.

Movistar manager Eusebio Unzue said Amador's role at the Tour this year is "to help scope out the course, and help take care of the team. He's a young rider and I think this is a course that he's perfectly adapted for."

Amador has bigger ambitions - like possibly a stage victory later on in the three-week race, which ends in Paris on July 24.

"Obviously I was in good shape and was looking forward to help the team in breakaways in the mountains," he said. "My goal is to be OK for the second week - be part of an escape in the stages that favor me."

In his still-young career, crashes and team tragedy aren't the only troubles he's faced.

He said that while training at home during the Christmas season last year, he was attacked by thieves who took his bike, beat him up and left him bloodied on a highway roadside.

Despite that, with a laugh, he insisted Costa Rica is a good place to train to become a pro cyclist.

"It's a country with a lot of mountains, it's very beautiful," he said. "Well, as long as the thieves don't strike at you."

And there seems to be plenty of fans back home.

"I'd like to be able to personally respond to all of them on Facebook, but I've gotten too many messages of support and it's just not possible, because I don't have the time," he said. "I hope I can give them some good emotions by the (race's) end."