Sky has endured a torrid Giro with Richie Porte and Peter Kennaugh being unable to compete and now Konstantin Siutsou has crashed out. But Dario Cataldo was just 50m from making all of Sky’s worries disappear by taking a Giro stage.

“It would’ve been big for Sky given that we are here for stage wins,” the Italian told Cycling Weekly. “It’s a shame, but we have to try again, from here to Trieste.”

“We thought that we had it, we believed from the first kilometres when there was 21 of us. I tried in every way possible, so I can’t be too upset with myself,” Cataldo said.

“I took that last curve at the front because I knew there’d be pavé and then the sprint, where it’d be hard for someone else to regain and catch me. It was longer than I expected, honestly. Those 250 metres that never seemed to end.

“Battaglin? I wish I knew that Enrico Battaglin (stage winner from Bardiani Valvole-CSF) was coming because he is truly fast. I knew about Mattia Cattaneo, who joined us late, but Battaglin came from nowhere when I was just focusing on the other two with me.”

This result matches Ben Swift’s second in the bunch sprint in Dublin on stage 3, and for now that stage win continues to elude Sky. But Cataldo has vowed that he wont let it elude his team for much longer.

“It was my turn today,” Cataldo said, still wiping the sweat from his face. “Sky is here for stages. It’s my turn in the mountains. I’ll keep trying from now until the end of the Giro.”