Tour de SAN LUIS *Spoilers*

frenchfighter

The first stage was split by crosswinds 20km from the finish and a small sprint was won by Roberto Ferrari (Androni Giocattoli).



The 2nd was a battle between climbers on the 5km final ascent with Serpa finishing just ahead of Eros Capecchi, Arriagada (Chilie) and Tondo. Soler was up there but not in contention for the overall having lost many minutes the previous day. Basso is riding but not racing.




Stage 3 was a large sprint and a 2nd win for Ferrari, giving Androni 3 out of 3.



Stage 4 was a 19.5km TT won by Tondo which now puts him in race lead.



Stage 5 was a mountain top finish won by Messineo (Argentiana) from a four man breakaway. The stage was a tough one with a total of 82 sperate time checks on the finishers from a total of 124 riders which is quite something. Tondo retains his lead.



Stage 6 saw two mountains and Tondo losing 15mins (not sure why yet). Arriagada, Serpa, Eros and Capecchi managed to be among the first finshers and the GC is now led by Arriagada, with Serpa in 2nd and Eros and Moyano of Argentina in joint 3rd.

Stage 7 is tomorrow and is a circuit race.

A great little stage race with some big climbs in tough stages, great scenery, a TT and sprint stages.

All photos Bettini.

There are a couple of videos on this channel but they aren't really worth watching as don't show the action much if at all:
http://www.youtube.com/user/worldcyclingchannel3

Anonymous

Basso reading news story about a man with unusually high testosterone.-

frenchfighter

Tondo suffered a crash by touching wheels hence why he is so far back. Eros moved to 4th after a 20sec time penalty for drafting team cars after a crash in the last 20km.

Stage 6 contained two Cat 1 climbs - one of 25km and one not far from the finish of 15km - followed by rolling terrain to the finish.

An 11 man breakaway came to the base of the 2nd climb with 3mins on the peloton. The eventual winner of the stage - Rubiano (D’Angelo & Antenucci) - launched his attack from the base of this climb, 15km out. When the peloton hit the slopes the climbers emerged and a 7 riders formed - Tondo, Soler, Moyano (Team Argentina), Garrido (Team Chile), Gomez (Team Colombia), Capecchi and Serpa.

In the meantime, Rubiano is still off the front solo, with the only remaining rider with him - Piedra - having had to stop for a mechanical. Arriagada attacks the small group of climbers, bridges to Piedra and the two work together to try and catch Rubiano, failing by 90 secs, but gaining 30secs on the others.

Rubiano:



Arriagada

Photos: Luis Barbosa

Quality racing on quality terrain, one for the purists. I wish these races were broadcast properly unlike the other rubbish races in the early season.

inkyfingers

Great pictures and good little commentary FF, thanks.

I agree that it looks like a good race and probably deserves more coverage...but I have enough trouble getting any work done with the current amount of racing coverage so probably for the best!

Tom BB

Yeah cheers FF....enjoyed reading that-sounds like a very tough and entertaining Stage Race

cal_stewart

any close up pics of the movistar tt bike to see if there running version of the new campag group.

takethehighroad

Interesting to see that Charlie Wegelius is riding this race for Unitedhealthcare. He spoke in the Tour about giving up cycling for good, anyone know any more details for his decision to carry on?

Tom BB

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Interesting to see that Charlie Wegelius is riding this race for Unitedhealthcare. He spoke in the Tour about giving up cycling for good, anyone know any more details for his decision to carry on?

There was a decent article on Bike Radar about it a few months back....cant remeber too much of what it talked about though :oops: !

Tom BB

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

Interesting to see that Charlie Wegelius is riding this race for Unitedhealthcare. He spoke in the Tour about giving up cycling for good, anyone know any more details for his decision to carry on?

He you go TTHR http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/p ... -slr-28691

Not ground breaking stuff, but explains a little about his decisions etc.

Frenchie are we going to have some nice pics and a report of the final stage please 8)

frenchfighter

Stage 7, the culmination of an interesting, tough and varied stage race, involved three circuits - San Luis, El Trapiche, then back to another in San Luis.

One Cat 3 KOM and 2 intermediate sprints. Eros needed to try and gain some bonus seconds to move to 3rd overall but was unable to pick up enough over Moyano:


9 breakaway riders gained a maximum of 4.30 but were brought back inevitably on the final 20km slight downhill stretch.

The final sprint was won by Aguilar (Funvic-Pindamonhangaba)


Final GC didn't change with Arriagada taking top honours behind Serpa and Moyano.

takethehighroad

Tom BB wrote:

Here you go TTHR http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/p ... -slr-28691

Not ground breaking stuff, but explains a little about his decisions etc.

Thanks for that, seems like it works for everyone really.

United get a decent pro to help the younger riders in Europe, Charlie gets a role with different responsibilities, and Boardman gets his bikes on the international scene.

frenchfighter

Liquigas kit looking quite good here actually:


And a good one of Tondo:

Tom BB

Nice pics as always FF.....any of the breakaway group on Stage 7?

frenchfighter

Check these out!

frenchfighter

Tom BB wrote:

Nice pics as always FF.....any of the breakaway group on Stage 7?

No real good ones that I have seen.