Tuft wins Tour de San Luis time trial

Image 1 of 16

Orica GreenEdge's Svein Tuft proved his time trial powers are as strong as ever; the 35-year-old scorched the 19.2km test on stage 4 of the Tour de San Luis in 22:14. The Canadian time trial champion powered home on a course ideally suited to strengths, pushing Leandro Messineo (San Luis Somos Todos) into second and Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) down to third. Vinenzo Nibali (Astana) recovered from his disappointing ride on stage three to finish fourth.

Kwiatkowski's ride was enough to move him into the leader's jersey, with Alex Diniz (Funvic Brasilinvest) succumbing to the blustery conditions and the high-calibre time trialists on show. Kwiatkowski's performance puts him 23 seconds ahead of Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing Team) who finished 7th on the stage, and Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto).

The battle for the overall now looks to be between those three riders, but with two tough mountain stages to come even Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank) who is 1:06 adrift can't be ruled out.

At the finish Kwiatkowski quickly made his intentions clear, stating that he and his team would aim to defend the jersey, while van Garderen added that the race was far from over and that he would take any opportunity that came his way.

"I did the course twice this morning and I felt good. During the race I couldn't hear my director so I didn't know the checks. I had to do it all on my own but knew that the first 10 kilometres would be in a headwind. I gave it everything," Kwiatkowski said after pulling on the leader's jersey.

Kwiatkowski was fastest at the mid-way point, 11 seconds clear of Tuft, but the Canadian powered back during the second half of the stage.

"There are still two more uphill finishes to come but this is the first race of my life I've been in this good a position. I don't know how I'm going to feel tomorrow."

Indeed Friday's stage to Carolina will test Kwiatkowski's mettle. Omega Pharma have already expended energy in helping Mark Cavendish and Sylvain Chavanel, and Pieter Serry will be needed to guide Kwiatkowski on the final ascent.

BMC director John Lelague told Cyclingnews that the team were 'here to win the race' and once van Garderen steadied himself after his ride he backed up the team's stance.

"It wasn't great but it wasn't bad. Kwiatkowski got me by about 20 seconds but if I'm honest I'd not really heard too much about him. I was more focused on some of the other guys. He must have had a really good winter. He was good but if I see an opportunity I'll take it, and I'm not going to soft pedal to the finish to finish second. We just have to see if an opportunity arises.“

As for today's winner, Tuft, he may have been out of the battle for the overall but he was understandably pleased with his first victory since last year's Duo Normand win and ORICA's first 2013 victory outside of Australia.

"It was a lot harder than I thought it would be but I think everything is at this time of the year. It's the first real time that you go deep. It was a good course though but I had a good winter of training so I thought I'd have a crack at it. It wasn't technical at all but there were some false flat sections and the wind was a major factor too."

Full Results