Carlos Julian Quintero never gives up without trying. In his four years in a Colombia-Coldeportes jersey, the 29-year-old from Villa Maria spent thousands of kilometers with the wind on his face, either working for a teammate or hunting for results in long-way breakaways. Nevertheless, he probably never got so close to a season and career-changing win as he did in the 14th stage of the Vuelta a Espana, 215 km from Vitoria to the uphill finish on Alto Campoo.

Battling for success in the much anticipated mountain stage, the longest of the 2015 Vuelta a Espana, were only five riders, those who managed to beat the peloton’s resistance after 50 km run at a frantic pace, forcing their way out of the bunch on a short climb. Along with Quintero, Salvatore Puccio (Team Sky), Mikael Cherel (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Josè Joaquim Rojas (Movistar) and Alessandro De Marchi (BMC) were the absolute stars of the day, and it was the latter who eventually managed to distance his former companions in the final kilometers, coming out of the thick fog with raised arms. Puccio and Rojas finished behind him, while Quintero was left with a bittersweet fifth place, and the most combative rider award after 160 km on the attack.

“We raced a great stage today, but it feels really bad right now. I wanted to win, I can’t hide,” told Quintero afterwards, with watery eyes leaving little doubt about his feelings. “In the last kilometers I was watching Cherel, who was still looking good and had tried a couple of attacks, but with 2 km to go, in the toughest section of the climb, De Marchi dug deep and we could not follow.”

“In these days," Quintero continued, "there was not a day in which we did not try to show up on the attack. Things don’t always go your way though, getting in the break is always hard, and finalizing it even more. Today it was a battle, but we were strong enough to earn the opportunity to go for a big stage win. That’s why it hurts so bad not to be the one who raised his arms on the line. We won’t give up until the end, though.”

After reaching a maximum advantage just after 10 minutes, and starting the final 19 km climb to Alto Campoo with a nine-minute gap, the escapees managed their advantage and energies in the first part of the ascent, with quite regular and steady gradients, until Cherel made the first attack with 3 km to go. Behind them, Fabio Aru (Astana) tried to attack his GC rivals, but he was preceded to the line by Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who managed to recover 7 seconds on the Italian, still in the overall lead. 

Colombia-Coldeportes’ Rodolfo Torres placed 20th, 4.23 adrift, followed by Alex Cano, 23rd at 4.38, and Fabio Duarte, 25th at 4.42.

Tomorrow, the peloton will tackle the second leg of a terrible triptych: the fifteenth stage, Comillas-Sotres. Cabrales, presents 175 km and another uphill finish, with a  12 km climb to the Alto de Sotres.