We have finally reached the real mountains in the Giro d'Italia and as expected the Colombia team has goen straight on the attack. Today Jarlinson Pantano got close to the win in the stage dedicated to Marco Pantani.

The stage to Oropa remembering Marco Pantani’s unforgettable exploit almost became Jarlinson Pantano’s day. The brave Team Colombia rider took an impressive third in the Giro d’Italia stage14 behind Italian Enrico Battaglin(Bardiani-CSF) and Dario Cataldo (Team Sky), after a 150-km breakaway.

Pantano was at the dream’s door today and his disappointment and tears after the finish line looked understandable.

“I had a great chance, really close to win a Giro stage. I feel sad now, but am aware that it was a great result for Team Colombia and me personally”.

Pantano’s opportunity probably vanished when Enrico Battaglin caught him and Dario Cataldo within the final kilometer, as a two-man sprint would have been another story.

Team Colombia’s manager Claudio Corti took the race verdict with fair-play:

“We’ve just to applaud Pantano with no regrets. Giro climbs ispire our riders and I strongly believe we’ll be again on the spotlight, hopefully a good day for Fabio Duarte will come as well”.

The Oropa stage was only 164km long but included three major climbs with the final showdown expected on the ascent to the Oropa Sanctuary. Pantano was in the actionfrom the start taking part in the 21-man breakaway that started after 12 km – whose advantage grew up to 10 minutes – with most of escapees to be fighting hard for the stage honour.

In the day’s chronicles there was also a bad crash involving Miguel Angel Rubiano on the way down the third ascent of the day.

“It was quite a bad blow and Miguel reported a number of bruises, particularly on the left side, on his legs, arms, hands and face," Team Doctor Marco Pallini said. "The bright side is he suffered no fractures, but his condition will obviously need to be reconsidered tomorrow in the morning.”