Team Colombia-Coldeportes’ riders are ready to take in the last two stage-races before the usual break in July.Claudio Corti’s team will face the Route du Sud, in France, and the Tour de Slovenie, from Thursday 18th to Sunday June 21st. 

One of the most important non-World Tour events in France, with a tradition of four decades, the Route du Sud kicks-off this Thursday, from Lourdes, with a stage for the puncheurs, as the final kilometer will have a 5% average gradient. Next day will also be a hilly one, but should end up in a bunch sprint. The GC will be decided in stage three, which has three first category climbs, including the Port de Balès (18,9 km and a 6,3% slope), that ends 21 kilometers before the finish in Bagnères-de-Luchon. The race wraps up on Sunday, with a flat stage to Gaillac.

The parcours brings many opportunities for Team Colombia-Coldeportes, so that’s why Sports Director Valerio Tebaldi will line-up an experienced team, capable of lighting up the race on every stage. Miguel Angel Rubiano – 10th in the latest edition of the Tour de Luxembourg – comes here with ambitions, the former national champion having the form and the confidence that he can score another important result in a race he did also last year.

Another rider who has had a successful Tour de Luxembourg, where he won the best climber’s jersey, is Fabio Duarte, who will look forward to the penultimate stage in order to lay his mark on the race. The team will be completed by Cayetano Sarmiento, Camilo Castiblanco, Leonardo Duque, Daniel Martinez, Sebastian Molano and Edwin Avila, a rider to watch out for in the sprints.

Best climber in the Tour de San Luis, Giro del Trentino and Vuelta Asturias, Rodolfo Torres will lead the Colombia-Coldeportes team at the 22nd Tour de Slovénie, a mountainous event which starts with a 8,8-km long individual time trial in Ljubljana. The following two days bring no less than seven categorized climbs, with stage three finishing on Trije Kraiji, a 17-km long arduous ascent, with a 5,6% average gradient. The race ends in Nove Mesto, on a circuit that should suit the sprinters.

Besides 28-year-old Torres, Colombia Coldeportes will bring at the start Walter Pedraza, Alex Cano, Juan Pablo Valencia, Carlos Quintero, Edward Diaz, Brayan Ramirez and Carlos Mario Ramirez, guided from the team car by Sports Directors Oscar Pellicioli and Marco Corti. As Colombia notched a top 10 in the GC at the 2013 edition – when it made its debut here – the team is confident it can replicate that result and fight again for a good overall classification, as well as a stage win.