Guevara wins stage 5 in San Luis

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The hometown San Luis Somos Todos squad scored a massive coup d'etat in the fifth stage of the Tour de San Luis, taking not only the stage victory on the uphill finish at La Carolina thanks to the efforts of Emmanuel Geuvara, but also claimed the race leadership for Daniel Diaz, who was a close second on the day.

The overnight leader Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) fell out of the top 10 overall, but Diaz will still get a challenge from the WorldTour riders, as BMC's Tejay van Garderen sits just 17 seconds behind in the overall classification. He's followed by stage 3 winner Alex Diniz at 39 seconds.

Geuvara attacked with Vojitech Hacecky (ASC Dukla Praha) early in the stage and with both riders well outside of the overall battle they were given a lead that peaked at 17 minutes. With a strong tailwind, the pair work together as the race returned to the San Luis mountains for the second time in the race.

With Kwiatkowski leading the overall it was left to Omega Pharma-Quick Step to set the tempo once the break had established itself, but the stage would always come down to whether the Pole could repeat his climbing exploits from stage 3.

The climb to Cerro el Amago is brutal, with one team director describing it as a goat track the Argentineans have thrown concrete at. It is 10.5 kilometres in length, but it is the variety in pitch that many riders struggle with, and Kwiatkowski was under pressure as soon as the road began to point upwards.

BMC did most of the damage, splitting the peloton to pieces and reducing the group to less than 30 riders. The question was whether they could catch the leading duo. Guevara, who almost quit racing last year, had begun to pull away from Hacecky, and with 24 kilometres remaining he still had a lead of 15 minutes.

With Kwiatkowski out the back, Alberto Contador and Diaz attacked. The 2012 Vuelta winner is still carrying four extra kilos and quickly sat up when he realized that Diaz's pace was too much.

"We went full gas at the start of the climb," Contador told Cyclingnews. "I went with Danny Diaz but I quickly said, hey Alberto, you don't feel good, you need to go slower. I waited for van Garderen and we worked together."

Diaz started the day in 7th place overall, 1:12 in arrears, but as the group of van Garderen began to thin out the Argentine rider moved closer and closer to the overall lead. Up ahead, the wheels had come off for Hacecky but Geuvara found another gear, kicking through the turns and holding a healthy advantage.

Miguel Angel Rubiano and Arnold Alcolea both attacked from the Contador and van Garderen group but Alex Diniz (Funvic Brasilinvest) and Javier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman) remained, as Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto Belisol) suffered an untimely flat tyre and never rejoined the group.

"We made a perfect launch pad for the San Luis team," van Garderen admitted at the finish. "My guys were aggressive and I'm proud of that. Kwiatkowski was having some problems with his gears, but I didn't see him crack. To be honest when Diaz attacked I thought that if I followed I could blow up and then I'd lose too much ground."

The American's next tactic was to use the 16 kilometres of rolling terrain after the climb to reel in Diaz and with Geuvara also on the ropes, a stage win and the overall looked possible.

"I thought that if we stayed in the group we'd work and catch Diaz but that gamble didn't quite pay off because he stayed away. I'm surprised because we were rolling through with a group of five, but they're the local team so they're motivated."

Guevara came through the one kilometre kite clearly exhausted and with the last 300 meters to the line all uphill he needed just one last effort to take the stage in what has been a hugely successful tour for the regional team. Diaz crossed the line 15 seconds later, picking up the leader's jersey in the process. The team leads the overall, and they also command a one-two lead in both the mountains and points competition. As one would expect, they lead the teams classification too.

"I've been working with a psychologist," Guevara said at the finish. "That's been the most important part of my progress. I've had 15 days of racing so far this year, too."

Diaz praised Guevara's long break and said the team were ready to defend the jersey. "We knew today would be good for us. We weren't aiming for the GC but I felt really strong and even after the climb I decided to press on. This is the prefect day for our team. We're well prepared for tomorrow."

Stage 6 provides another opportunity for the climbers to shuffle the standings when it finishes atop Mirador del Sol, a category 1 climb ascending to 1,450m.

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