Orica-GreenEDGE dominated the first part of the Giro d'Italia but now the team is on their knees. Despite Ivan Santaromita showing a battling attitude, today was another bad day at the office as they lost stage winner Pieter Weening.

Ivan Santaromita rounded out the top ten on stage 14 of the Giro d’Italia. The Italian National Road Champion spent the day in a 21 strong breakaway  from which stage winner Enrico Battaglin (Bardiani-CSF) ultimately emerged. Battaglin beat out Dario Cataldo (Team Sky) and Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia) to the line atop the category one summit finish at Oropa.

“We didn’t plan to put Santa in the break,” said Sport Director Matt White. “The break split away on the descent, and Santa just happened to be part of that group. He’s had some issues with illness this last week, and he showed today that he’s feeling better than had had been. He’s definitely going in the right direction.”

Early reports that Mitch Docker did not line up for the stage start in Agliè were false. Despite his illness, Docker started and finished the mountainous day of racing. Pieter Weening was forced to pull the pin mid-stage, leaving the Australian outfit with only four riders for the remaining seven stages.

“Pete was empty,” explained White. “He’s had a virus. He had a mild fever yesterday, and he was feeling worse today. He had nothing left in the tank, so he couldn’t continue.”

“Mitch started and finished the stage,” White added. “He’s not feeling any better but he’s still riding. He’s made it this far.”