Serpa claims summit victory

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Jose Serpa’s (Androni-Giocattoli) victory atop the stage two Mirador Del Potrero mountaintop finish brought him one step closer to his goal of winning the overall title of the Tour de San Luis. The fierce Colombian attacked four climbing specialists to take the win ahead of Eros Capecchi (Liquigas-Cannondale), who placed second, and Marco Arriagada (Team Chile) in third. The winner of this stage in 2009, Xavier Tondo (Movistar), placed fourth.

“I felt very good today and I am very happy to win here in Argentina and here on top of the Potrero,” Serpa said. “I had good preparation coming to this race and we are very motivated. I hope that we can win the overall. I was patient and I knew I could win at the end of the stage ”

Serpa will start stage three’s 163 km road race from Buena Esperanza to Villa Mercedes wearing the leader’s jersey, a mere four seconds ahead of Capecchi and 10 seconds clear of Arriagada. He is also the event’s mountain classification leader. Juan Lucero (Team Argentina) maintained his overall lead in the sprint competition.

“We knew that with those four riders in the front on the climb that Serpa had a very good chance of the win,” Savio said. “A very strong rider on that climb was Tondo and when he attacked, he was very strong. But, Serpa is very fast and he waited for his attack. We will try to win the overall title but right now it is only the second stage and it is still very early. For sure, the overall winner will emerge on La Carolina on stage six and possibly in the time trial on stage four.”

Arriagada shakes things up on Mirador

Arriagada put forth a peloton-shattering attack at the base of the five-kilometre finishing ascent on the Mirador Del Potrero. With three kilometres to go, he caught and passed the last three riders of an original breakaway, his teammate Luis Mansilla, Rene Mandri (Endure Racing) and Oscar Soliz (Team Bolivia).

A group of approximately nine climbers emerged on the ascent in pursuit of the Chilean that included Serpa, Capecchi and Tondo along with Josue Mayan (Team Chile), Fortunato Baliani and Jesus Rosendo (D’Angelo & Antenucci), Jorge Giacinti (Team Argentina), Mauricio Soler (Movistar) and Camilo Gomez (Team Colombia).

Tondo attacked the group with one and half kilometres to go with Serpa and Capecchi in tow. The Spanish climber and former stage winner pulled the pair past Arriagada, who latched on to the new leaders for the remaining 500 metres. Serpa started his sprint with 200 metres to go and held off Capecchi for the stage win.

“This was a very difficult stage,” Arriagada said. “I wanted to have a good stage today. I attacked in the last five kilometres. Three riders caught me very close to the finish line and I was able to stay with them.”

A moment of silence for the late Armando Borrajo

The second stage of the Tour de San Luis started in the small town of Potrero de los Funes. The previous day’s wind died down and caused temperatures to increase to 35C.

On the start line, the event organization held a moment of silence in memory of former Argentine National Champion Armando Borrajo who took his own life following a mysterious kidnapping in December.

The riders completed one lap of the racing track built for Formula One at the Potrero de los Funes before climbing out of the valley for approximately 30 kms toward the first of two intermediate sprints in El Durazno.

Gonzalo Garrido (Team Chile) started a series of attacks and gained 30 seconds in a solo effort. The peloton descended on to the first of two laps around the scenic La Florida Lake, a popular tourist destination during the summer months. A large 22-rider group split off the front of the peloton and gained a maximum eight-minute margin. Each lap included a King of the Mountains ascent to the top of Alto La Florida, a two-kilometre category three climb. Garrido was first to the top on each occasion.

Riders in the front group included Arnold Alcolea (Team Cuba), who placed second on this stage last year, Cristiano Solerno (Liquigas-Cannondale), Christian Meier (UnitedHealthcare), Damiano Margutti (De Rosa-Flaminia), Matteo Montaguti (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Gerardo Fernandez (Team Argentina), Antonio Piedra (Andalucia-Caja Granada), Carlos Oyarzun (Movistar) and Gairo Ermiti (Androni-Giocattoli), among others.

On the return to San Luis, the peloton arrived four minutes behind the front group. A small but motivated trio Oscar Soliz (Team Bolivia), Luis Mansilla (Team Chile) and Rene Mandri (Endura Racing) led the race by three minutes into the final climb up the Mirador Del Potrero, a five-kilometre category one ascent. The remaining 18 riders were reabsorbed into the field before the climb.

“Endura Racing’s tactic was to have someone in front in case there was a big group,” Mandri said. “It wasn’t really working because every team had a big rider and in the end we had to stop pushing because the peloton was so close. I had to attack again just to make the race interesting. It was still really hard with a headwind. We still have three minutes with ten kilometres to go. The three of us were alone on the climb and then I waited for my teammate who was climbing in a small group behind. I gave everything I had today.”