Colombia missed a great opportunity to take a stage win in the Giro d'Italia when Jeffry Romero had made it into the break that ultimately stayed away to the finish in yesterday's stage. Unfortunately, the young Colombian fell off the pace inside the final 20km and he claims that stage winner Marco Canola had done less than his companions to keep the break alive.

It looked like sprinters’ business, instead Giro d’Italia stage 13, Fossano-Rivarolo Canavese (158 km), last stop ahead of the mountain streak starting tomorrow, ended up in surprising fashion. In fact, three of the day’s escapees got the opportunity to sprint for victory, and Marco Canola (Bardiani) proved fast enough to beat Jackson Rodriguez (Androni Giocattoli) and Angelo Telik (Europcar).

It was a lost opportunity for Nacer Bouhanni, who put his FDJ team at the front since the early going just to see it give up the chase in the finale, losing the chance of a 4th success and settling for fourth place on the day. Pink jersey Rigoberto Uran (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) also finished in the main bunch, in a stage that did not cause any changes up in the standings.

As usual in this Giro, a Team Colombia rider featured among the day’s six attackers: Jeffry Romero had promoted the attack along with Canola, Rodriguez, Telik, Maxim Belkov (Katusha) and Gert Dockx (Lotto-Belisol), but eventually got dropped along with the two latter into the final 15 km, when the leading group split in two halves. The peloton was coming back strong at the time, being merely 1.30 behind with 20 km to go, but then the sprinters’ teams incredibly gave up the chase for some kilometres, helping the breakaway to reach the 3 km to go banner with still 1’ on the bunch.

In the end, the escapees finished with a 11-second advantage, and Leonardo Duque was the first Team Colombia rider to the line, taking 14th in the bunch sprint.

“Shamefully I could not hold on with the leaders till the finish, but I really gave everything I had," Romero said. "I had spent a lot of energy in past days, and today I wanted to try and seize this opportunity, but I probably gave a little too much at the beginning. Canola was the one who had spent the least energy in helping the breakaway, and that’s why he had more left at the decisive juncture.”

From today on, the Giro d’Italia really means business: 164 km and 4 categorized climbs stand between Agliè and Oropa, start and finish of stage 14. It will be the first real test for Rigoberto Uran’s Maglia Rosa, and the Escarabajos will also look to be in contention in one of the uphill finishes dedicated to Marco Pantani.