Quintana, Movistar Team safe through Colombia day two
07 February 2018

Another sprint at Oro y Paz race

Nairo, Dayer finish inside bunch's lead echelon as crash near Palmira's finish -with no Blues involved- splits group into two. Gaviria (QST) makes it two in a row.

Fernando Gaviria (QST) continues to rule the bunch sprint finishes which are so far dominating the scene in the first-ever Colombia Oro y Paz race, held today over a longer course (183km) in and around Palmira. The main local fastman claimed honours from Sebastián Molano (MZN) and Matteo Malucelli (ANS) as the bunch was again split by a crash inside the last few kilometers, the incident not involving any Movistar Team riders this time.

The Telefónica-backed squad had a calm day, with all of its riders always keeping the front -De la Parte, Carapaz and Pedrero embarked on protecting duties for his colleagues- and a good leadout by Winner Anacona in the finale to bring the Quintana brothers to the front before the sprint. Both Nairo and Dayer finished inside the first echelon of a bunch divided into two by the closing incident. The jury decided to award the same time to both groups.

Nairo -who had a good night’s sleep and, despite his visible blows and bruises, did not go through any troubles to keep the pace- remains with the same time as all other GC contenders (+23). The Blues will face another flat route on Thursday, 163km towards Buga, before the mountains finally show up from Friday.

Picture (c): Dario Belingheri / BettiniPhoto.net