While Jake Keough (UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling) may very well have been the Tour de San Luis's revelation of stage 2 - finishing third in the field sprint finale behind Omega Pharma-Quick Step teammates Francesco Chicchi and Tom Boonen - just four hours prior to the 24-year-old American's stunning result he and teammate Jay Thomson told Cyclingnews about the eventful finale to Monday's opening stage.
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Under gruelling conditions dominated by rain and even hail, the ProTour teams at the Tour de San Luis decimated the field in the final 40 kilometres resulting in an elite selection of 38 riders arriving together in Villa Mercedes. Keough and Thomson both made the split for the US-based Pro Continental squad and in the team's first race of 2012 Keough cracked the top ten with a ninth-place result.
Both felt the effects of a hard day in the saddle. Keough crashed once, while Thomson made due with a single gear, a 54x11, over the final 50 kilometres following a near accident with a Movistar rider.
Keough spoke about the mistakes he made in the finale of his first outing of the 2012 season, while Thomson downplayed his potential for a general classification result - although he suggested he'd be full-on for Thursday's time trial stage in advance of South Africa's national time trial championship in March.