Contador prevails on Mirador del Sol

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Alberto Contador (Team Saxo-Tinkoff) powered away from race leader Daniel Diaz (San Luis Somos Todos) on the steep, concluding pitch of Mirador del Sol to win stage 6 at the Tour de San Luis. Contador won on the same climb in 2012, also narrowly beating Diaz for the win, but the victory was later stripped from Contador's palmares by CAS.

Diaz finished two seconds behind Contador on the mountain finish for second place, followed by stage 3 winner Alex Diniz (Funvic Brasilinvest) in the same time. In doing so Diaz extended his lead in battle for the overall, dropping his nearest rival Tejay van Garderen (BMC).

Diaz has but one stage left to navigate and with the route suiting the sprinters, the race for the overall is all but over as the Argentinean now holds a 33-second advantage on van Garderen.

Contador had attacked out of a select lead group just prior to the flamme rouge with only Diaz able to make an immediate response. The Spaniard would ultimately drop Diaz as the road steepened in the final 200m, with the local hero holding off the charge of Diniz to secure second place.

While not able to beat Contador to the line, Diaz nonetheless gave the partisan crowd plenty to cheer for as he remains in the Tour de San Luis leader's jersey. The 33-year-old made use of Tejay van Garderen's early pace setting on the final climb and finished 16 seconds clear of the American. Diniz remains in third on general classification, but cut his deficit to van Garderen to just six seconds. Contador is now fourth, 1:02 down.

Throughout the race Contador's form has improved sharply. On the first mountain stage he suffered from cramps and was dropped by the leaders while on stage 5 he helped form a select group that ultimately failed to catch Guevara and Diaz. On today's final climb, however, he demonstrated his ability to hit form without too much racing in his legs.

"I'm very happy, especially for my team, who has worked hard for me in this race," he said in a press release, deciding not to hold a winner's press conference after the stage.

"Having companions as I have, that work without guarantees of whether you win or not is a luxury. I know they are hundred percent for me, so I'm very happy."

"I wanted to win because every day at dinner my teammates were joking and saying they worked for nothing. So I said, you'll see tomorrow, and at the end went well. The best thing is that we have an awesome atmosphere."

BMC's tactic ahead of the stage had been to isolate Diaz from his teammates - the theory that the San Luis Somos Todos rider could be forced into either a mistake or blow from constant attacks on the final climb.

"He actually looked pretty isolated on the early third category climb," van Garderen told Cyclingnews at the finish.

"I attacked on the final climb, too, but I didn't get too far. But when Contador and Diaz attacked they got a gap that I couldn't close. It wasn't going out any further but I'm just missing that little bit extra," he added.

Attacks had come from the gun but when Adriano Malori (Lampre-Merida), Pieter Weening (Orica GreenEdge), Mauro Finetto (Vini Fantini-Selle Italia), Marc De Maar (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team) and Diego Rosa (Androni Giocattoli) escaped from the peloton it looked as though the bunch would give the group of five some breathing space.

However a testing crosswind ensured that the peloton were kept on their toes, with the pace too high for Thor Hushovd (BMC) who retired from the race.

The leaders extended their escape to 3:30 but with 11 kilometres remaining and the gap down to less than 30 seconds they stood little chance. Nicki Sorensen (Saxo-Tinkoff) put in the first attack at the base of the final climb but BMC soon took charge and reduced the leading group to 11 riders.

"I knew it would be a complicated finale but the team were great," Diaz said.

"I knew I had to do it all on my own on the final climb and I wasn't sure how I'd recovered from yesterday's efforts but I felt good on the climb. I knew that I only had to control Diniz and van Garderen. Contador was a minute down on me but he climbs so quickly, too."

"When I stayed with Contador I was really calm."