Having shown great form in the first part of the Giro d'IItalia, Robert Kiserlovski struggled in today's stage 14. The Croatian felt a bit of a hunger knock in the finale and hopes to counce back with a stronger showing tomorrow.

The Giro d’Italia reached the high mountains for the 164-kilometer stage 14 and by the top of the summit finish climb to Oropa two battles had formed: the stage win from the original 21-rider breakaway, and behind, the combat for the general classification.

Trek Factory Racing played a part of each key skirmish with Danilo Hondo joining the 21 rider early move, Riccardo Zoidl marking a crucial attack on the penultimate mountain climb, and Julian Arredondo pacing Robert Kiserlovski on the final summit.

“Today was a complicated situation with strategies," sports director Adriano Baffi said. "We asked Julian to stay with Robert today, and not go in a breakaway. We really wanted Riccardo to go with a break – and for what he showed today it was a lost opportunity because he was good at the end. That was our strategy going into the stage.” 

The stage victory came from the day’s breakaway that had gained enough time by the final ascent to safely hold off the chase groups. It was a thrilling come-from-behind win by Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani-CSF) who clambered his way back to the leading two riders in the last kilometer, and skipped away in the final 50 meters.

An equally electrifying battle followed as the main GC rivals valiantly tried to gain time on each other. The first attacks came on the long 18.3-kilometer ascent with still over 45 kilometers to go when Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp) jumped away with an attentive Riccardo Zoidl pasted to their wheels.

“I was pretty tired in the end and I could not hold Rolland and Hesjedal, but it was important to be there for Robert," Zoidl said. "It has been a strange Giro for me. At the beginning I was feeling very good and had big expectations. Then I got sick, and really struggled. Today was the first time I felt good again.

"I was happy to be up there to help Robert, and I hope now it will continue for me, especially for the next week, which is very hard. It will be tough, but I am satisfied with how I felt today, so I think I can be there for Robert in the final week.”

On the final 11.7-kilometer summit to the finish Julian Arredondo led a harsh pace at the front of the maglia rosa group with Robert Kiserlovski on his wheel. When Arredondo pulled off AG2R-La Mondiale assumed the pacing duty for Domenico Pozzovivo, who launched a brutal accelartion that splintered the remaining riders. Only Nairo Quintana (Movistar) could match his explosive move, leaving the remainder of the group in tatters.  At the finish race leader Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) managed to defend his pink jersey, but a few key rivals clawed back valuable seconds, including second overall Cadel Evans (BMC).

Robert Kiserlovski finished 28th on the stage. Although he lost 32 seconds to Uran, he maintained his 10th place in the overall (+5’13”).  Julian Arredondo also held his lead in the mountain classification (75 points), although a challenge surfaced from Tim Wellens (Lotto-Belisol) after he gobbled up many of the day’s points from the breakaway, and now sits in second place (57 points).

“Robert said he did not eat enough, and said that he felt a little bit of a hunger knock at the end. We took a risk with the mountain jersey by not sending Julian in the breakaway, one rider took a lot of points but Julian still has the lead," Baffi said. "We will see about that in the next days. Robert is still 10th.  I believe that he could have stayed with Uran at the end, and if it’s true that he finished empty than tomorrow we should see him have a better day.  He should be able to take back what he lost today.”

Tomorrow is another mountain top finish as the Giro begins to slowly wind up its prelude to the dramatic final week. Trek Factory Racing has shown its face at the front in almost every stage, and has four second place finishes, and two thirds, to show for its efforts, but the elusive win has yet to come.

“Yes, we still have all nine riders, but this is not our objective," Baffi said. "Look at Orica [GreenEdge] they are only four now but they have won three stages and have had the jersey. We still want to reach our goals of top 10 overall and to win a stage. Then we will be satisfied."