Unlucky at final mountains
27 January 2013

Tour de San Luis (st. 6)

Herrada, virtual top-20 overall, was the best Blue rider again at the Mirador del Sol mountian-top finish, won by Contador as Díaz kept his orange jersey with one day to go

Movistar Team was not able to shine in the third, final mountain stage on day six of the Argentinian race, finishing atop the Mirador del Sol in Merlo after 157km from the start in Quines. The telephone squad relentlessly seeked for the breakaway in a thrilling race opening, something that seemed to have achieved Jonathan Castroviejo as he made an 11-man cut that almost reached two minutes of advantages, but ended up caught in the 40th kilometer.

A later attempt by five riders was always under control of a bunch that reeled them back at the foot of the final climb, where the peloton broke into pieces with Alberto Contador (STS), taking the day’s win, and race leader Dani Díaz (SLS), who strengthened his advantage on the first place overall. Blue-wise, youngster Jesús Herrada was the top finisher again -he lost 1.30 with the lead duo- and confirmed his top-20 GC before the last stage of the race, a 155km ride from San Luis to Juana Koslay with no remarkable difficulties.