Deluge crushed the riders, even with hailstorm, during the first half of racing in the opening stage of the 6th Tour de San Luis, the most important cycling event in Latin America starting today with a 189k stage from San Luis to Villa Mercedes. Bad weather caused numerous crashes during the race, the six Movistar Team riders fortunately getting off all of them. The rain and strong winds made a big split into the main field and created three echelons, the first of those with 35 riders including Fran Ventoso, Andrey Amador, Enrique Sanz and David Arroyo, what made the telephone squad jump into the top of the teams’ leaderboard. The final mass sprint saw Italy’s Francesco Chicchi (OPQ) take the first orange jersey as Ventoso claimed 7th. The second stage, over a rather similar parcours -just one categorized climb halfway into the course-, will be raced from Fraga to Juana Koslay, 145 kilometers long.