I had it in my mind that Ulissi might do something but thought his stage 11 crash would put a lid on his ambitions. Far from it and Lampre’s new star lead for a large part of the afternoon until Rigoberto Uran jarred all of our eyes open – including Ulissi’s as he sat in the ‘hot seat.
’Time tests, love them or hate them – but this one was a cracker.
I had Evans down as winner after it became apparent that Adriano Malori was ‘just getting round’ after his crash the day before.
There’s just one ‘but’ regarding Uran’s performance – let’s hope his big improvement against the watch isn’t at the expense of his climbing.
The medium mountains are one thing – but the Gavia and Stelvio are another.
I remember Robert Millar working hard on his testing only for his climbing to suffer.
But the 27 year-old Uran has certainly paid his dues; Colombian novices TT and points champion in 2003 he took the national junior pursuit, points, scratch and road titles in 2005.
By season 2006 he was pro with Irish registered (for cost purposes) but Italian based Tenax with 25th in the 1HC Giro del Lazio his best ride.
He joined ill-starred Swedish outfit Unibet for ’07 and immediately displayed promise with a stage win and top 10 on GC in the Tour de Suisse.
And he has won a pro time trial before – Stage 2b of the Euskal Bizikleta; albeit the last six riders didn’t ride due to storm conditions.
The stage was annulled but Uran was declared and is listed as winner.
So there!
The 2008 season was the first of three at Caisse d’Epargne with second on GC in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and third in the Giro di Lombardia not a bad start.
The following season wasn’t as impressive with ‘just’ fifth on GC in Romandie to write home about.
In 2010 he took top ten places in Piemonte and the GC of the Tour de Suisse.
Then in 2011 he joined Sky, where he spent three seasons, with third places in Emilia and Quebec to go with fifth in Liege-Bastogne-Liege.
Olympic year was a good one for the Colombian, silver in London, wins in Piemonte and a stage of Catalunya, third in Lombardia and best young rider in the Giro.
Last season saw him become Pro Tour royalty with second overall in the Giro – after Brad’s head fell off – and he took two stage wins if you count the TTT.
For 2014 Patrick Lefevre spotted a prince who would be a king but found his accession blocked by other royalty with less hair and more appeal to Daily Mail readers – ‘sign here, son’ said the Belgian, and Rigoberto did.
Uran started this year quietly but has obviously got his build up right.
But it’ll be interesting come those snowy peaks…