(24-01-2016 / · Prensa / Press Tour de San Luis) The Colombian rider (Astana) claims victory atop of Comechingones ahead of fellow countrymen Nairo Quintana (at two seconds) and his brother Dayer (at four seconds). Sepúlveda finished fifth after Ilia Koshevoy (23 seconds behind the winner). Dayer takes leader’s jersey from Argentinian Eduardo Sepúlveda (20” behind him) with Nairo third (at 35”). “I talked to Nairo as well as Dani Moreno, who told me to attack in the final part of the climb” says Dayer.
Miguel Ángel López (Astana) claimed an amazing victory on the Queen Stage of the Tour de San Luis from La Toma to Merlo. Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) finished second at two seconds and his brother Dayer (Movistar) was third four seconds behind the winner.
The three riders attacked in the last part of the final climb at Comechingones when Rodolfo Torres (Androni) was leading the race. The Movistar riders and López chased their fellow countryman and increased the pace in their way to the summit finish. The stage victory was decided in the final meters, when ‘Superman’ López sprinted to win Tour de San Luis stage 6 ahead of Quintana brothers.
“I want to thank my team, which began to work with 50 km to go, and Vincenzo Nibali who did a great job of keeping me at the front of the group at the beginning of the final climb,” said the stage winner. Ilia Koshevoy and Argentinian Eduardo Sepúlveda finished 23” behind the Astana rider.
Dayer takes leader’s jersey with an advantage of 20” over Sepúlveda, 35” over Nairo and 38” over López. The Movistar rider will win his first Tour de San Luis tomorrow. Nairo Quintana’s younger brother was exulting with joy after his great performance in Latin America’s greatest cycling race. “We tried to isolate Eduardo Sepúlveda. I talked to Nairo as well as Dani Moreno, who told me to attack in the final part of the climb” said Dayer after a “very tough and windy” stage in which the peloton had to work very hard to absorb the escapees of the day.
The break formed with Matej Mohoric (Lampre), Eduard Grosu (Nippo-Vini Fantini) and Juan Magallanes (Mexican National Team) took a maximum lead of seven minutes and thirty seconds with 70 km to go. The peloton increased the pace to absorb the escapees at the beginning of the final climb, when the Colombian riders began their exhibition.
Medical report after yesterday’s crash
Good news for Adriano Malori who was put into an induced coma yesterday after a bad crash. He suffers of head injury and broken collarbone. Movistar sport director José Luis Jaimerena said: “He had a good night, without any problems. He reacted when I said his name, his eyes moved, he squeezed my hand and moved a little, despite still being sedated. We’ve got to wait to see what happens but these signs make us more optimistic than yesterday.
”About Etixx QuickStep riders Gaviria and Contreras: the X-rays revealed that Fernando Gaviria has a fracture of the radius bone in his left arm, while Rodrigo Contreras has suffered a wound in his right knee which required 15 stitches.
Tomorrow’s stage
Tour de San Luis final stage (tomorrow at 14:21 local time) in San Luis (119,6 km) will become a homage to Colombian Dayer Quintana. World champion Peter Sagan and Italian Elia Viviani will try to sprint to claim their first victory in the Argentinian race. Stage 7 is expected to finish at 17:00 (local time) based on an average speed of 45km/h. Dani Moreno (2007), Juan José Haedo (2008 y 2009), Alberto Loddo (2010), Héctor Aguilar (2011), Tom Boonen (2012), Mattia Gavazzi (2013), Sacha Modolo (when the finish line was in Terrazas del Portezuelo in 2014) and Mark Cavendish (2015) have won this stage.
Josu Garai, Andrea Agostini, Andrés García-Armero
For further information: www.toursanluis.com
