Colombian annoyed at time trial losses but recovered from crash
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Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rigoberto Uran and Moreno Moser wait for the flight to Italy.(Image credit: RCS Sport)
Rafa Majka and Rigoberto Uran sprint for the line(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rigoberto Urán says that although he has recovered from his crash during the Giro d'Italia's stage nine time trial, the irritation at losing a large chunk of time to the other overall contenders still lingers.
The Colombian fell heavily during the Chianti time trial, a day where he was expected to do well given that in a very similar mid-Giro time trial in Barolo in 2014 he took both the stage win and the maglia rosa, leading the Giro d'Italia for four further days.
Sunday was a very different story. Following his crash and time loss, the Cannondale rider slumped to fifteenth overall at 2:56 down on race leader Gianluca Brambilla (Etixx-QuickStep). He is two minutes and three seconds down on widespread Giro d'Italia favourite Vincenzo Nibali (Astana).
Speaking to reporters at the stage ten start in Campi Bisenzio on what is set to be a tough day through the Apennine mountains, Urán said that although he's on the mend, the damage to his GC hopes in the 40.5 kilometre Chianti time trial represented a longer-term blow.
"I'm feeling fine and I've recovered," the 29-year-old said. "It was a fall but the actual impact was not as bad as all that, I have a slight swelling on one knee but it's not serious.
"That said, today [stage 10] is a very complicated stage, I've lost a lot of time on the other favourites that I wasn't planning on losing. But we'll go on fighting, there's a lot of the Giro d'Italia left to go and the idea is to be in good shape for the last part of the race."
Second overall in the Giro d'Italia both in 2013 and 2014, Urán recognised that it had been very annoying to, as he put it, "have been in such good shape, up there with the top riders and then to have a crash like that, particularly as I usually go well in the rain and the stage suited me very well.
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"But that kind of thing can happen, we will have to continue fighting. The race isn't over until the last day."
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Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
