Tour de San Luis **Spoilers**

frenchfighter

Tour de San Luis, whose seven stages cover 1051 kilometres from January 23 to 29, has attracted its strongest-ever field, headlined by five ProTour and seven Professional Continental squads. Also on the start list are six Continental squads plus national teams from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Parcours: 2 sprinter stages, 2 summit finishes, 1 TT and 2 for the breakaway specialists. Can't be beaten. Lovely scenery too.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/tour-de-san-luis/preview

Startlist:
http://www.cyclingfever.com/editie.html ... d=MjMwNDQ=

Contador, Nibali, Nocentini, Boonen, Chavanel, Leipheimer, Visconti, Sella, Serpa, Pozzato, Rassmussen.

Really enjoyed this race last year. The South American riders are very aggressive.

viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=12753403&p=16723162&hilit=luis#p16723162

Note that the winner tested positive:

viewtopic.php?f=40002&t=12761977&p=16792683&hilit=luis#p16792683

Official site: http://www.tour-sanluis.com.ar/

frenchfighter

cogidubnus

http://movistarteam.com//upload/files/2 ... sl_014.jpg

Like Visconti's kit, though not quite as cool as last years effort

edit stupid picture, I'll try and resize it

Doobz

Photo finish,



Etapa 1: 1. Chichi(OPQ), 2. JJ Haedo (SAX), 3. M. Richeze (ARG), 4. Mansilla (CHI) 5. Casper (ALM), 7. Ventoux (MPG).

frenchfighter

Very nice shot over the valley.

Doobz

Doobz

The Finish..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJwM4G0hQ5s

inseine

Nice to see Stefan Schumacher up there.




Not

greeny12

Crikey! Rasmussen, Schumacher, Leipy, Sella.... think I'll give this one a wide berth.

shinyhelmut

greeny12 wrote:

Crikey! Rasmussen, Schumacher, Leipy, Sella Contador.... think I'll give this one a wide berth.

ftfy

frenchfighter

Rain looks pretty crazy. Riders took shelter even.

Doobz

frenchfighter wrote:

Rain looks pretty crazy. Riders took shelter even.

I believe it was one of the worst hailstorms that area has had in years..

Quote below from velonation.com

“Our Argentine therapist says that in the six years she has been involved in the Tour de San Luis, she never has experienced rain. And not hail, so it was totally unexpected that it would be so bad.”

frenchfighter

Any idea who won? I can't find much info apart from their twitter: twitter.com/TourSanLuis but don't understand

archieboy

Apparentley,
1 Chichi
2 Boonen

calvjones

Tommeke cracking on with his 2nd places early this season then.

blazing_saddles

rick_chasey

Anyone see the sprint?

Was this by design, or was Boonen not good enough for first?

frenchfighter

He wouldn't race his team mate, esp as is early season and Chichi is likely lead sprinter in this Tour.

avoidingmyphd

It was confused. there are some videos here http://www.cyclingfans.com/tour-de-san-luis/videos
Their plan A was Boonen, but Chicchi (reasonably) thought Boonen had dropped off in the approach to the finish, so raced for himself. But Boonen worked his way back onto his wheel and eventually came alongside him. Then they both pretended not to race each other side by side, and both thought they had won. Chicchi took it on the photo.

rick_chasey

It'd be good to see Boonen properly clear up at these training races.

When he cleans up he tends to have a good classics season.

(correlation, not cause, of course)

calvjones

Rick Chasey wrote:

It'd be good to see Boonen properly clear up at these training races.

When he cleans up he tends to have a good classics season.

(correlation, not cause, of course)

He's going to have to start on a mountaintop finish then.

[worldwithoutPip]

This year might be his last best chance - I can see Radio-LeeOpard not giving a toss/having bedding in issues and Garmin doing their usual tactical masterclass, so as long as Tom can keep Chav in line internally...

[/worldwithoutPip]

Doobz

Contador Wins!! Photo Comming

blazing_saddles

Doobz wrote:

Contador Wins!! Photo Comming

Leipheimer riding in the shade again.
Comming?
Cue a Frenchie love spurt. (lightweight)

Doobz

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Doobz wrote:

Contador Wins!! Photo Comming

Leipheimer riding in the shade again.
Comming?
Cue a Frenchie love spurt. (lightweight)

Decent result for Contador considering he is over his race (GT) weight

Tour de San Luis - GC after stage 3:
1. Alberto Contador (Team Saxo Bank)
2. Levi Leipheimer (Omega Pharma - Quickstep) 00:04
3. Stefan Schumacher (Christina Watches) 00:19
4. Daniel Diaz (San Luis Somos Todos) 00:22
5. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas - Cannondale) 00:36

frenchfighter

Brilliant stuff. The champion knows how to perform from the beginning of the season.

Brilliant kit.

"To tell the truth, I was better than I expected. I worked really hard; I accelerated until the finish. I was able to win by suffering and I'm very happy. It's a prize that I didn't expect."

Levi - thought it was classic stuff....then see him here stringing them out:


Just noticed Guardini is riding. Hopefully he will show something.

rick_chasey

SO tempting to draw conclusions about stuff from these races.


Must. Resist. Must. Not. Take. As. Real. Racing. Only. Training.

Gargh!

rich_pcp

Does anyone know if Argentinian beef has the same clenbuterol issues as Mexican meat is supposed to?

Doobz

Video of some of the stage footage and finish and podium

http://youtu.be/_pakO0pr4VA

LeicesterLad

rich pcp wrote:

Does anyone know if Argentinian beef has the same clenbuterol issues as Mexican meat is supposed to?

Yawn...

cal_stewart

just realised Christina Watches have the most evil line up since rock racing

mroli

Yep. I loath the Christina watches team....