Year after year, Colombia-Coldeportes always comes back with important news and indications from Giro del Trentino Melinda, and the 2015 edition brought at least two; the rise of Rodolfo Torres, best climber of one of the toughest short stage races around and growing into a consistent leader, and the awakening of Fabio Duarte, finally looking strong on the same roads where he was overall fourth last year. This time Aussie Richie Porte was clearly the strongest over the four days, keeping an impressive winning streak on.

Duarte’s third place at the end of the fourth and final stage (Malè-Cles, 161 km), behind winner Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) and fellow escapee David Arroyo (Caja Rural), was not rewarding enough for the impressive action the 28-year-old from Facatativa started on the Predaia Pass, with over 60 km to go.

Having attacked from the bunch with six more riders, Duarte rapidly left them behind, reaching the top of the climb in complete solitude. Behind him, Tiralongo and Arroyo proved the strongest among the chasers, getting back on the solo leader just after the first passage on the finishing line in Cles.

Porte’s Team Sky was happy with simply controlling the GC contenders, so it all came down to a three-man sprint on the final straight, with Tiralongo’s sprint leaving no chances to his rivals. Porte’s group came in 49 seconds later and also included Rodolfo Torres, 12th in the overall classification and awarded with Giro del Trentino Melinda best climber’s green jersey .

“I am very happy, this is the first leader’s jersey I have won since moving to Europe, and I think this is a nice reward for everything the team and I did over these days, always being in the very core of the action,” Torres said. “I wish to dedicate it to the whole team and the people working for us: I really want to give them some of the green jersey I wore here.”

Sports Director Valerio Tebaldi also called it a good experience. “We are back with a leader’s jersey again this year, and I believe Rodolfo totally deserved it, for the way he rode Giro del Trentino Melinda and for how he handled himself so far in this season. Today, we also saw sparkles of the Duarte we all know and expect to see: from the morning meeting, we tried to give him confidence and motivate him to make a move after seeing him progress over the last days, and today he showed he is still very capable to go for big results.”

“I think” Tebaldi said, “we showed a steady improvement over the last few outings with more riders earning the spotlights and making important things for the whole team. Too bad we will not be at the Giro in two weeks, because we would have relished the challenge, but we still need to continue on this path: we will not be winless for much longer.”

The same eight Giro del Trentino Melinda’s line-up will race the Giro dell’Appennino on Sunday April 26th, while another 8-man group will be taking part in the Tour of Turkey, from April 26th to May 3rd.