(22-01-2016 / · Prensa / Press Tour de San Luis) · The Argentinian carried out an outstanding solo attack in the final climb to claim victory ahead of Acevedo (54 seconds behind), Villalobos and Dayer Quintana (at 1:31). The Fortuneo Vital Concept rider takes leader’s jersey with an advantage of three seconds on Dayer Quintana and 38 seconds on Rodrigo Contreras. “There was a lot of wind but I attacked in the right moment” says Sepúlveda

Eduardo Sepúlveda (Funvic Fortuneo Vital Concept) claimed an outstanding victory on the first mountain stage of the Tour de San Luis from Terrazas del Portezuelo to Alto del Amago. Second place went to Colombian Javier Acevedo (Team Jamis) at 54 seconds. Román Villalobos and Dayer Quintana finished third and fourth 1’31” seconds behind the winner.

               The Argentinian rider decided to carry out an amazing solo attack in the final climb of stage 4. Janier Acevedo and Dayer Quintana, who were leading the race at that moment, were not able to follow Sepúlveda in his way to Cerro del Amago. The group of favourites did not react on time and the Fortuneo Vital Concept aimed not only the stage win but also the overall classification lead.

               Sepúlveda did his best to open an important gap over the rest of the favourites and he succeeded. Miguel Ángel López and Rafal Majka finished the stage 2’10” behind the Argentinian, Nairo Quintana came over the line at 2’12” and Rodolfo Torres and Rodrigo Contreras at 2’14”. Thanks to the time bonus at the finish line, Sepúlveda took leader’s jersey with an advantage of 3 seconds on Dayer Quintana, 38” on Rodrigo Contreras, 42” on Nairo Quintana and 51” on Miguel Ángel López.

                “There was a lot of wind but I attacked in the right moment,” said Sepúlveda. “I think that I can compete against the favourites in Merlo,” he underlined regarding to stage 6 which will finish atop of first category climb Filo Sierra Comechingones. The Argentinian took his revenge after an unhappy Tour de France for him. He was disqualified from the ‘Grande Boucle’ on stage 14 after breaking his chain and getting a lift from the AG2R La Mondiale team car. It was a big mistake.

               The break of the day formed with Emmanuel Guevara (San Luis), Ariel Sivori (Los Matanceros), Lucas Garay and Rubén Ramos (Argentinian National Team), Carlos Alzate (UnitedHealthCare), Riccardo Stacchiotti (Nippo Vini Fantini), Gonzalo Najar (S.E.P. San Juan), Ignacio Sarabia (Inteja), Richard Carapaz (Strongman), Jonathan Hornbeck (Holowesko), Paul Betancourt (Costa Rica National Team) and Félix Nodarse (Cuban National Team) took a maximum lead of seven minutes. The peloton increased the pace step by step to absorb the escapees at the beginning of the final climb, when Sepúlveda’s exhibition began.

Tomorrow’s stage

Tour de San Luis stage 5 (tomorrow at 14:26 local time) from Renca to Juana Koslay (168,7 km) is the second opportunity for the sprinters at the 2016 Tour de San Luis. World champion Peter Sagan and Italian Elia Viviani will try to beat Colombian Fernando Gaviria, who has won two stages in the current edition of the race: the opening team time trial in El Durazno as well as stage 2 in Villa Mercedes.

Stage 5 is expected to finish at 18:15 (local time) based on an average speed of 44km/h. Francesco Chicchi (in 2012), Giacomo Nizzolo (in 2014) and Fernando Gaviria (in 2015) have won in Juana Koslay.

Josu Garai, Andrea Agostini, Andrés García-Armero

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