For the second day in a row, Colombia-Coldeportes’ Miguel Angel Rubiano showed up in the finale at the Route du Sud, this time in the second stage, Auch – Saint-Gaudens (141 Km). On Friday June 19th, on a slightly uphill finish, Bryan Coquard (Team Europcar) saw off in a sprint Quentin Jauregui (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Armindo Fonseca (Bretagne-Seche).

The best among Valerio Tebaldi’s riders was the former Colombian National Champion, eight on the finishing line, while yesterday’s winner Steven Tronet (Auber 93) held on the GC lead. Edwin Avila is the best Colombia-Coldeportes rider in the overall, 10th at 13 seconds.

The stage was characterized by a 5-man attack, including one of Claudio Corti’s team riders, Camilo Castiblanco, along with Magalhães (Radio Populat-Boavista), Pedersen (Cult Energy), Paillot (Marseille 13 KTM) and Lizarralde (Murias). With 30 km to the line, Pedersen, Paillot and Lizarralde remained at the front, eventually joined by Juul Jensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Sütterlin (Movistar) and Le Gac (FDJ). The leaders were reeled inside the final kilometer, just before the sprint edged by Coquard.

"I'm a sprinter," Avila told Directvelo. "I feel better and better as the days pass. I could not play my card because at the bottom of the climb I was in a bad position. I have not raced a lot in recent days but the group is very united. We came here to win a stage but for now we have not succeeded. Today Leonardo Duque was not good. In the end we rode for Miguel Rubiano. The goal for tomorrow is to join a breakaway with Fabio Duarte who is very fit. We lost the climber's jersey but we will do everything to get it back tomorrow. "

At the Tour of Slovenia, a bad crash by Rodolfo Torres in the early part of the second stage (Skofja Loka – Kocevje 182 Km) provided a big scare to his teammates and technical staff, but they all took a sigh of relief at the end of the day, when X-rays excluded any fractures to Torres’ right elbow, that had hit the ground hardly in the accident. Pierpaolo De Negri (Nippo-Vini Fantini) took the stage win ahead of Antonino Parrinello (Area Zero) and Simone Ponzi (Southeast). Russian Artem Ovechkin (Rusvelo) kept the leader’s jersey at the end of the stage.

In a stage run under heavy showers, Colombia-Coldeportes started on the back foot, with early crashes by Juan Pablo Valencia, Carlos Julian Quintero and Rodolfo Torres. The latter, in his attempt to get back to the bunch on the slippery tarmac, was surprised by a road bump and hit the ground again: the hard blow to his right elbow forced him to withdraw and undergo the medical tests, but in the end Rodolfo will be soon back on saddle to continue his setup to the Vuelta a Espana.

On the 1st category climb that sparkled things up in the stage finale, Alex Cano attacked from the main group at the chase of solo escapee Finetto (Southeast). A flash of brilliancy by the Colombian climber, who passed second atop the categorized climb, while Finetto was caught in the final flat stretch ahead of the sprint finish.

“We are really sorry for Rodolfo, as we were very confident in his chances for this Tour of Slovenia. On the other hand, we are relieved that there is no fracture, so his preparation for the Vuelta can continue regularly. Today, both Alex Cano and Carlos Quintero gave some good signs. Tomorrow the hardest day of the race is in store, and I expect some selection to happen in the finale: we will rely on Alex and Carlos to run for the stage win,” Sports Director Oscar Pellicioli said.

Tomorrow the Escarabajos will take in the queen stages of both races: the Route du Sud’s peloton will reach the Pyrenees (Izaourt – Bagneres de Bigorre), and climb Haut Balestas, Van Louron and Port de Bales ascents, while the third stage of Tour of Slovenie will culminate with the uphill finish to Trije Kralji (1189 metres).