After two strong days, the third stage of the Settimana Internazionale di Coppi e Bartali (Calderara di Reno-Crevalcore, 173 km) wasn’t a lucky one for Team Colombia-Coldeportes, after three riders were involved in crashes that took place in the last kilometers.

Before the sprint won by Francesco Chicchi (Androni Giocattoli), ahead of Manuel Belletti (Southeast) and Daniele Colli (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Colombia-Coldeportes’ Miguel Angel Rubiano and Juan Pablo Valencia went to the ground 5 km from the finish, and afterwards, with just 2 km to go, Carlos Julian Quintero, fourth in the overall standings, was involved in a crash while driving Edwin Avila into the best position at the forefront of the peloton.

Fortunately, there weren’t any serious consequences for Carlos and Valencia, while Rubiano was taken to the hospital to get sutures after a deep cut to his right arm, in addition to bruises on his hand and right leg. His condition will be evaluated in the evening, in order to find out if he can start in the important mountain stage from Pavullo to Roccapelago.

In a completely flat stage, 11 cyclists – Dietrich and Tomio (Roth Skoda), Cambianica (Meridiana), Di Francesco (MgkVis), Galviz (Androni), Girdlestone (Drapac), Cechinel (SouthEast), Malucelli (Team Idea), Mendoza (Movistar CT), Sisr (Dukla Praha), Van Zyl (MTN Qhubeka) – have escaped after just 8 kilometers, but were controlled by the sprinters’ teams up until 12 km to go, when the last of the riders in the breakaway was caught. In the final kilometers, the Escarabajos worked for Avila, but the incident in which Quintero was involved changed the plans, so the best placed cyclist at the finish was Sebastian Molano, in 17th place.

“Today, things didn’t go in our favor”, Valerio Tebaldi said to the Colombia website. “Our riders were involved in two crashes with just a few kilometers until the end, and we don’t know if Rubiano can start tomorrow’s stage. Valencia and Quintero were left unscathed: Carlos is in an excellent condition and tomorrow he will go for the podium.”

On the sixth stage of the Volta a Catalunya, Alex Cano was among the protagonists of the breakaway that tried its chance on the course from Cervera to Port Aventura (194 km). Richie Porte’s Team Sky didn’t chase the escape, opting instead to control the gap of the breakaway. In the sprint, the 13 men which were still at the front fought for the victory, which went to Sergei Chernetski (Katusha), who outsprinted Julian Alaphilippe (Etixx-Quickstep) and Maciej Paterski (CCC-Sprandi).

Cano came in 17th place, after the group was split into two parts on the last descent, with around 20 km from the end. Tomorrow, Sunday, the race will end with stage seven, which starts and finishes in the capital of Catalunya, Barcelona, after 126 km.