Colombia have lined up some of their strongest climbers at the Tour de Slovenie and yesterday they proved that they are ready to animate the hilly race. The team took control of the peloton on the final climb in the second stage before launching Robinson Chalapud off in an attack.

Team Colombia clearly came to the Tour de Slovenie with ambitions, and showed it in the first road stage of the race, 160,7 km from Ribnica to Kocevje. The riders guided by Sports Director Oscar Pellicioli set the pace on the toughest climb of the days, whittling the peloton down to 36 men who eventually contested the sprint finish. Australian Michael Matthews (Orica-GreenEDGE) saved his leader’s jersey, but had to surrender in the sprint to Italian Sonny Colbrelli(Bardiani), while Jarlinson Pantano took the seventh place in the dash.

In the best riders’ group finished also Fabio Duarte and Robinson Chalapud, the latter after being very active on the Strma Reber climb. The Escarabajos took over the lead of the peloton from Orica-GreenEDGE in the second part of the ascent, setting an impossible pace for many of the riders and getting back to Russian Firsanov, the final survivor of the morning escape. A few kilometres ahead of the KOM, located at 38 km to go, Chalapud moved on the attack along with Davide Vilella (Cannondale), and was second at top the climb, but the group got back together on the descent made slippery by the rain.

After today’s stage, the Escarabajos’ captains gained several spots in the GC ahead of today’s queen stage, with Trije Kralji top finish.

“Today we took the responsibility on the climb and made a selection and Chalapud showed to be one of the best climbers in the race, and hopefully he will tomorrow too," Sports Director Oscar Pellicioli said. "Pantano also did a good job, as he is looking more and more familiar with this kind of finishes. A year ago, he wouldn’t have taken this result, and I think he still has room for improvement, as he has really good acceleration skills. Tomorrow I expect him to be among the strongest, and hope Fabio Duarte will be in contention as well.”

Edwin Avila, who reported suffering from pain to his hand injured at the Tour du Luxemborg, opted not to take the start of stage 2: a real disappointment for General Manager Claudio Corti, whose team’s field for the Slovenian stage race was reduced to seven riders.