If Rodolfo Torres’ Tour de San Luis will set the tone for Team Colombia-Coldeportes season, General Manager Claudio Corti will have plenty of reasons to smile in 2015. Rodolfo will travel back from Argentina with two seconds and one third place in three uphill finish, in which he proved the strongest and most consistent among those riders headed to start the European season in February. In the 6th stage of the race, 117 km from Achiras to Filo Sierras Comechigones, it was Brazilian Kleber Da Silva (Funvic), a teammate of overall leader Daniel Diaz, to see off the strong contention of Torres, who finished a mere two seconds behind.

Diaz was third on the day, ahead of Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who is poised to round out the overall podium tomorrow in San Luis, behind Diaz and Rodolfo Torres.

Arango (Colombia National Team), Danielson (Cannondale-Garmin),Duchesne (Europcar),Kochetkov (Katusha),Canola (UnitedHealthcare) and Cattaneo (Lampre-Merida) got clear early on, but it was immediately clear that the strongest would have had every chance to get back on them to contest both the stage finish and the overall positions. Marco Canola was the last escapee to surrender, while behind the leaders’ group was keeping a very high pace, discouraging the attacks along with the strong wind and the fatigue from 6 weary days of racing. A group of nine riders was still together inside the final kilometres, when Da Silva and Torres opened a little gap, but in the end it was the Brazilian who proved quicker to the line.

Miguel Angel Rubiano (13th) and Edward Diaz (16th) also provided good performances, and above all helped Colombia-Coldeportes to strengthen its hold on the overall Teams’ classification: with a 2.24 gap on the first rivals, Movistar, the title should be firmly within the grasp of Oscar Pellicioli’s line-up. Diaz is also second in the Youth Classification, while Torres is ranked second in the KOM standings, with the same number as leader Daniel Diaz.

“It was another hard day for everyone, and another impressive stage for us and our team: I can’t do anything but praise this great group of riders, who really showed their determination to hit the ground running in this new season. Obviously, it is a pity that Rodolfo could not come up with the stage win too, but we will look for another chance tomorrow in the sprint with Leonardo Duque,” Sports Director Oscar Pellicioli said.

The final stage, 122 flat kilometres around San Luis, should not provide major twists of fate, with a bunch sprint expected to wrap up this edition of the race. One that Team Colombia-Coldeportes’ definitely won’t forget easily.