Messineo wins mountaintop finish

Leandro Messineo (Team Argentina) triumphed in front of his home-town fans after climbing into the stage five win at the Tour de San Luis atop the Mirador Del Sol on Friday. The Argentine climber out-paced four of his all-day breakaway companions Cristiano Salerno (Liquigas-Cannondale) in second and Adrian Palomares (Andalucia-Caja Granada) in third. Alexander Wetterhall (Endura Racing) hung on for fourth place.

“There were five of us left from the big breakaway and I thought I had good legs,” Messineo said. “There was a lot of wind in the front. I spoke with my technical director and he was telling me the time difference to the peloton. I didn’t feel too good, especially because of the wind, but I made it to the finish line.”

Xavier Tondo (Movistar) gained four additional seconds toward his overall race lead and is currently 34 seconds ahead of Jose Serpa (Androni-Giocattoli). Marco Arriagada (Team Chile) made it to the top of the climb ahead of Tondo, a result that moved him into third place overall 37 seconds behind Tondo.

“In the last 200 metres I did my best to gain some seconds on Serpa and not lose too much time to Arriagada,” Tondo said. “I am still in first place and tomorrow is a long stage with two big mountains and we need to take it day by day.”

The peloton fractures on Mirador Del Sol

The peloton started the final 10 km ascent three minutes behind a breakaway of 13 breakaway riders. The top overall classification contenders emerged quickly from the field that included Mauricio Soler who set a fast tempo for his teammate Tondo. Serpa waited patiently on Tondo’s wheel for a prime opportunity to attack the leader.

Arriagada was the first to jump ahead of the dwindling field and gained several seconds mid-climb, forcing Soler to close the gap for Tondo. “The Chilean rider attacked very hard at the bottom but I have a super teammate in Soler and he set a tempo that only myself and Jose Serpa could follow,” Tondo said.

The stage victory and podium places were already sewn up by breakaway riders Messineo, Salerno and Palomares but the climbers back in the group were less interested in the stage win than in fighting to gain small amounts of time on one another in the overall classification. They passed the remnants of the breakaway riders with two kilometres to go.

“Arriagada had a very good climb and is in very good form right now,” said Gianni Savio, Androni-Giocattoli directeur sportiff. “He is very close now, only three seconds behind Serpa, in third place. It was an interesting race and we will wait for tomorrow’s climb.”

Arriagada proved stronger than expected and held off the chasing trio that included Soler, Tondo and Serpa to the finish line where he placed fifth on the day. Soler took his teammate as far as he could but the true race was between Tondo and Serpa. Tondo jumped on the last, steep uphill pitch and finished four seconds ahead of Serpa.

Four men survive the all-day breakaway to the finish line

After the previous day’s scorching stage four time trial, the 140 racers were treated to windier but cooler 24C conditions. The stage five parcours brought the peloton along the undulating terrain through the foothills of the Andes Mountain Range toward the event’s second mountaintop finish on the Mirador Del Sol.

A breakaway of 13 riders split off the front of the field and gained nearly six minutes. Luis Mansilla (Team Chile) was the highest placed rider in the overall classification, 3:48 behind Tondo.

Those in the break were Cristiano Salerno (Liquigas-Cannondale), Leandro Messineo (Team Argentina), Julien Berard (Ag2r-La Mondiale), Adrian Palomares (Andalucia-Caja Granada), Alexander Wetterhall (Endura Racing), Cristian Benenati (De Rosa-Flaminia), Andrew Pinfold and Davide Frattini (UnitedHealthcare), Rodigo Cuevas and Jorge Contreras (Team Chile), Richard Mascaranas and Jorge Soto (Team Uruguay).

Mansilla moved further ahead in the event’s sprint competition when he picked up full points at both intermediate sprint lines located in La Punilla at 57 kms and Los Molles at 141 kms.

The peloton behind got closer to the final ascent and Movistar set a quick tempo and closed the gap down to three minutes to protect Tondo. “My team worked very hard because there was a big breakaway and one rider was at four minutes,” Tondo said. “We needed to take care because you never know something can happen.”

Serpa lost one of his teammates, Luca Solari, to a crash mid-race and was forced to rely on his four remaining teammates at the base of the climb. “Luca crashed and has a very bad cut on his head,” Androni manager Gianni Savio said. “He went to the hospital, just to be safe, but he is all good and there are no problems.”

As the breakaway approached the 10 km to go mark, Palomares ignited a series of attacks that were countered by Salerno. The pair opened a small gap ahead of chasers Messineo, Wetterhall and Mansilla. After being off the front for more than 145 kms, the remaining breakaway riders were caught by the front of the peloton, one-by-one, on the Mirador Del Sol.