With one stage left to go – the 10 km individual time trial of San Benedetto del Tronto – until the end of Tirreno-Adriatico, we have a verdict, only thing missing being the official confirmation: Team Colombia-Coldeportes’ Carlos Julian Quintero is the winner of the green jersey, which rewards the best climber of the race. Things became certain at km 131 of the 6th stage, Rieti-Porto Sant’Elpidio (210 km), won in a sprint finish by Peter Sagan (Tinkoff-Saxo), ahead of Gerald Ciolek (MTN-Qhubeka) and Jens Debusschere (Lotto-Soudal).

The three escapees of the day, Alessandro Vanotti (Astana), Stijn Devolder (Trek) and Yukiya Arashiro (Europcar), passed in this order over the only climb of the stage, Montelparo. In the mountains classification, Quintero has 21 points, 3 more than the second placed rider, Danilo Wyss (BMC), which means the Colombian born in 1986 only has to complete the individual time trial to get this important result in a World Tour race.

“It was another tough stage, with rain from the start until the finish”, said an exhausted Quintero. “Tinkoff-Saxo wanted to make the race hard, so that Sagan would arrive at the end in the best possible conditions. Personally, I was very nervous, because you always fear that something unexpected can occur and you can crash, thus wasting the effort made by the team. Actually, when the peloton split on the climb, I managed to stay within the top-15, and even if Wyss had tried something, I would have been ready and able to respond.”

“This result was important for us, and the team worked all day long to make sure the riders in the break poses no threat," Quintero added. "I’m very happy to bring such joy to the group and our supporters. Now there’s only one step left to be made”.

The day’s only bad news for the team was the abandon of Edwin Avila, who crashed in the feed zone.

Tomorrow, Colombia prepares for the celebration of three events: barring any surprise, Nairo Quintana will take home the blue jersey of the overall classification and the white one, which rewards the best young rider of the race, while the green jersey will be worn by the rider of the team supported by the Colombian government through the Ministry of Sports – Coldeportes. If Rigoberto Uran (Etixx-Quick Step) manages to surpass Dutchman Bauke Mollema (Trek) and climb to second place in the GC, then the party will be complete.