Rubiano claims the stage as La Carolina crowns Arriagada race leader

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Miguel Angel Rubiano (D’Angelo & Antenucci) stormed to victory on stage six of the Tour de San Luis after spending more than 180 km off the front of the race as part of a large breakaway. The Colombian dominated the queen stage’s final ascent to La Carolina by a minute and half to beat one of his breakaway companions Antonio Piedra (Andalucia-Caja Granada) into second.

“I felt good today,” Rubiano said. “I got over the climb and had enough left to make it to the finish line. The stage was very hard and the breakaway I was in worked well together until the last climb. I’m a little surprised that I was able to win the race but I was feeling good on the climbs and there was a lot of climbing today.”

Marco Arriagada (Team Chile) jumped from the peloton several times on the ascent and rode in for third place, some 30 seconds ahead of the decisive group of climbers. The Chilean moved into the lead of the overall classification, 38 seconds ahead of José Serpa (Androni-Giocattoli) and Josue Moyano (Team Argentina).

“I’m really happy with this position,” Arriagada said. “I felt good on the first climb so I attacked on the second climb. I got up to Piedra and we worked to the finish line. I felt bad for Tondo but this happens in bike racing. I feel sorry for him but it happens.”

Xavier Tondo (Movistar) started the decisive stage as the race leader. The Spaniard looked to have the overall sewn up after passing the final ascent with the lead group of climbers. An unfortunate crash on the way to the finish line took him out of contention in the overall classification.

“We reacted well to Arriagada to try and catch him at the top but just after the top I started to feel like sooner or later I would get dropped,” Tondo said. “I thought the finish was flat but there were a lot of little hills and every time we got to one of them I felt bad. I touched Marco’s rear wheel and crashed alone. I am disappointed because my team was working really well for me.”

Eros Capecchi’s (Liquigas-Cannondale) eighth place on the day provisionally moved him into third place overall. However, race officials added 20 seconds to his finishing time for drafting off the team vehicle following a crash in the last 20 km. The additional time moved him down into fourth place overall.

Chaos on La Carolina

An 11-rider breakaway approached the final 15 km climb to La Carolina with a three-minute advantage over the driving peloton that included overall race leader, Tondo.

In the break, Rubiano launched his winning attack at the base of the climb and gained more than a minute ahead of Piedra. An unfortunate series of mechanicals forced Piedra to get off his bike and stand at the side of the road for assistance, losing valuable time to Rubiano.

Behind, the climbers emerged from the peloton on the ascent, including Tondo and his teammate Mauricio Soler (Movistar), Josue Moyano (Team Argentina), Gonzalo Garrido (Team Chile), Camilo Gomez (Team Colombia), Eros Capecchi (Liquigas-Cannondale) and José Serpa (Androni-Giocattoli). The seven riders caught up to one of the remaining breakaway riders Maarten De Jonge (Endura Racing).

Arriagada made his final attack on the rolling terrain after the ascent and caught breakaway rider Piedra, who was riding in second place. The pair worked together to try and close the gap to Rubiano but were not successful.

Rubiano crossed the line a minute and half ahead of Piedra in second and Arriagada in third. “Arriagada came up to me and we worked together to the line because he was interested in gaining time in the overall and I was interested in the podium,” Rubiano said.

Tondo crashed on the way to the finish line and lost 15 minutes on the stage, knocking him out of the overall classification.

Two men standing after all-day break

Some 140 racers lined up to start the highly anticipated queen stage six at the Tour de San Luis. The 193.5km parcours included two lengthy category one ascents.

The first climb of nearly 25 kms was located mid-race on the Alto de Nogoli and the second during the final 15 kms of the race up to La Carolina. The climbing offered one last chance to make a difference to the overall classification, led by Tondo.

A breakaway was established inside the first 15 km and it included Miguel Rubiano (D’Angelo & Antenucci) and Antonio Piedra (Andalucia-Caja Granada), who were the highest placed riders in the overall at 4:56 and 5:44 minutes respectively.

Also in the break were 2009 overall winner Alfredo Lucero (Team Argentina), Nerz Dominik (Liquigas-Cannondale), Christian Meier and Rory Sutherland (UnitedHealthcare), Paolo Bailetti (De Rosa-Flaminia), and David Bernabeu (Andalucia-Caja Granada), Jonathan Millan and Weimar Roldan (Team Colombia), Maarten De Jonge and Robert Patridge (Endura Racing) and Guillaume Bonnafond (Ag2r-La Mondiale).

They started up the first lengthy ascent through the winding shallow base of Routa Nogoli in the Rio Grande. The pitches steepened as the riders proceeded up the high-desert mountain walls of the Andes. The group remained intact with the exception of Roldan, who fell off pace near the top.

The gruellingly long ascent culminated with the third intermediate King of the Mountains prime won by Millan. The peak was followed by a fast and twisty descent where officials warned of dangerous sections. The group made it to the bottom, minus Patridge, who flatted and ever regained contact with the leaders.

The breakaway was notified of a six and half-minute lead along the flat Routa 146. The riders took the time to drink as much cold water as possible under the warm 35C temperatures. Their lead dropped considerably in the flat run in to the final climb to La Carolina.

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