Tour de San Luis / Tour Down Under (st. 5)
Malori abandons, Moreno with Soler and Nairo Quintana affected by enormous pile-up at end of stage five in Tour de San Luis. In Australia, Rubén Fernández -6th atop Willunga- gets close to repeating last year's GC result Down Under
A mass pile-up in the final 30 kilometers of stage five in the Tour de San Luis, finishing at Juana Koslay, ruined what had, until then, been a calm day for the Movistar Team.
The riders directed by José Luis Jaimerena crashed almost as a unit, due to a pothole in the road. The incident affected Nairo Quintana, who was quickly back on his bike and in the main peloton. Dani Moreno and Marc Soler also fell, while Adriano Malori was forced to abandon and was transferred to the nearby Hospital San Luis. Dayer Quintana and Fran Ventoso were not involved in the crash.
In agreement with the Movistar Team's medical staff, The hospital has published the following bulletin on the status of Adriano Malori:
"Adriano Malori, 27, was admitted at 18:10 hrs with multiple injuries, including head trauma, as a result of a bicycle crash.
He is currently in the intensive care unit, where he will remain under observation intitally for 48 hours."
We can add that Adriano also sustained a fracture to his right collarbone. We expect to release another bulletin in the course of tomorrow, (Saturday 23 January 2016).
Three other crashes with less serious consequences
As Germán Tivani (ARG) took the day's honours after joining a four-man breakaway. Nairo Quintana, Dani Moreno and Marc Soler and were able to reach the finish line. Nairo Quintana grazed his right elbow and sustained a little briusing in the scramble ofter the crash. Moreno took a blow to the lower back, while Soler sustained cuts and briuses. .
Despite the incident, after the stage, Dayer and Nairo Quintana remain second and fourth overall behind race leader Eduardo Sepúlveda (FVC). The final showdown will be held on Saturday's stage six towards Filo Sierras Comechingones (16.6km, 7% avg.), 2,140m above sea level, at the end of a 160km stage starting at La Toma.
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– Tour Down Under: Rubén, Herrada, Oliveira all strong on Q-day
An ocean away from team-mate Adriano Malori but equally determined to offer some success to his team-mate, the Movistar Team riders spent almost the whole Queen stage of the Tour Down Under -151km between McLaren Vale and Old Willunga Hill- at the front of the race.
It started off with a notable Nelson Oliveira, on the breakaway until the foot of the second, final ascent towards the finish; and at the end, following great positioning work from Sütterlin and Sutherland, Jesús Herrada and most notably Rubén Fernández. The furious attacks from Porte (BMC, stage winner) and Henao (SKY, 2nd) didn't allow the duo fighting for the day's glory, yet their great pace over the climb took them to 6th -Rubén- and 12th -Jesús- on the stage.
The two's effort is rewarded with the sixth and twelfth places, respectively, into a GC only pending Sunday's circuit race (90km) in Adelaide's CBD. The squad directed by José Luis Arrieta also went just 9" short to repeating their teams' GC victory against Cannondale; Rubén sits now in 2nd at the Young riders' competition, to Jay McCarthy (TNK).
Results: Tour de San Luis | Tour Down Under