Something has changed in 2014 for Team Colombia’s Fabio Duarte: he became a father, chose Italy to live with his family, changed his schedule. What he didn’t change is the main goal: to go to the Giro d’Italia in the best possible condition to show his enormous potential.

Those he launched today in the uphill finish of the Giro del Trentino stage 2 to San Giacomo di Brentonico after 164 km, are definitely good signs in that direction.

 

Duarte placed third, between Pole Niemec (Lampre) and Cadel Evans (BMC), all of them behind Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani-CSF), who surprised everyone with an attack with 10 km to go, first along with 4 more riders, and then moving on solo into the final 6 km. Behind him, the leaders’ group did not react with decision until 3 km to go, when an acceleration by Pozzovivo severely reduced it in numbers.

 

Niemec, Duarte and Evans finished only 19 seconds behind Zardini: the Australian is the new GC leader, while Duarte – after yesterday’s solid TTT effort – is fourth with a 23 second gap to Evans, with two stages and as many uphill finishes to go.

 

Duarte was carrying a wide smile after the race:

 

“Just like yesterday, I must say thank you to my teammates, who did a great job in bringing me in good position for the final climb, and then I did my part too. Now we got two stages left, on two pretty different uphill finishes that I like both: hopefully we can follow on this path to get to the Giro in top condition and with good confidence.”

 

“We know Fabio very well: when he feels good legs and the right confidence, he can compete at any level," Sports Director Valerio Tebaldi stated. “He has been working with excellent commitment in the last couple of months, went to the Passo Maniva for altitude training, and followed the path we had set up for him step by step. And if he will continue like that, the best has yet to come.”

 

Leonardo Duque also produced a good performance on the day: the Colombian veteran worked his way into the day’s three man break, winning the only intermediate sprint and, as a consequence, wore the Intermediate Sprints Leader’s red jersey at the end of the stage.

 

“Leonardo wanted to get in the break and take the jersey, and managed to do both. In the next couple of days we may try to defend it: we got two stages left, and we got all the determination and the condition to try to show up again,” Tebaldi said.

 

Tomorrow the Giro del Trentino celebrates its third stage, and second uphill finish: a steep 3 km ramp is waiting for the riders in Roncone, after 182 km with plenty of climbs and practically no rest. Another day cut out for Duarte, Pantano and their teammates.