Rigoberto Uran may not be part of the Colombia team but the South American squad still celebrated the great result obtained by their compatriot in today's Giro d'Italia time trial.

The Wines’ time-trial, Barbaresco-Barolo (42,5 km) saw rain make its comeback to the Giro d’Italia, but Colombia and its whole cycling movement lived today one of the most shining moments in their history: for the first time ever, a Colombian athlete managed to wear the GC leader’s Maglia Rosa, and his name is Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-Quickstep).

Uran surprisingly dominated the time trial, crashing the previous best time of Diego Ulissi (Lampre) by 1.17, and beating Cadel Evans (BMC) by 1.34: the Australian therefore had to give up the leader’s jersey ahead of a high-mountain weekend, with uphill finishes in Oropa (Saturday) and Montecampione (Sunday).

Team Colombia’s Fabio Duarte finished 33rd, 4.14 behind Uran, after his performance was partially hampered by the rain that caused several accidents on today’s route (including a spectacular crash of Swede Ludvigsson, who had to abandon the race), until it stopped pouring ahead of the top GC men’s starts.

“Fabio was disappointed with his effort, but I do believe he did a decent time trial and he would have been closer to the top positions if he just started a little bit later," Sports Director Valerio Tebaldi explained. "Nevertheless, it was Uran who made the big difference today, and we send him our sincere congratulations: it’s a very significant moment for the whole movement our team reperesents, and we are very happy for Rigo.”

Now the floor is up to the great mountains, but ahead of that the sprinters will have a chance in tomorrow’s 13th stage,Fossano – Rivarolo Canavese (159 km).