Valls adds GC lead to stage win on Mirador climb

Spain’s Rafael Valls (Footon-Servetto) captured his team's first season victory atop the Mirador De Los Funes, a five kilometre ascent that ended stage two of the Tour de San Luis. The Spaniard stunned local fans when he rode away from handful of the world’s best climbers and crossed the line first ahead of Arnols Alcolea (Team Cuba) and Jackson Rodriguez (Androni-Giocattoli).

"This is the first win of the year for me so I’m happy with that," Valls said. "There was a lot of wind on the climb so there was a bigger group. A rider [Jackson Rodriguez] attacked and he had a good lead. I had to go after him with one kilometre to go to have enough time to catch him and I just kept going."

Valls’ performance landed him in the Tour de San Luis’ orange overall leader’s jersey with an additional eight seconds ahead of runner up Alcolea and 16 seconds ahead of third placed Rodriguez.

Mirador De Los Funes

The most significant breakaway of the day was caught with 20 kilometres to go. Liquigas-Doimo put its horsepower at the front, including its race leader and winner of stage one Francesco Chicchi, in an effort to set up climber Vincenzo Nibali.

Other teams that presented a strong bid for the stage two victory included Miche working for Michael Rasmussen, Scott Marcondes working for all rounder Jorge Giacinti, Team Argentina for defending champion Alfredo Lucero and Androni-Giocatolli who have strong climbers Jose Serpa and Rodriguez.

Footon-Servetto took over the pace-setting alongside Katusha’s Italian National Champion Filippo Pozzato who did much of the work until the peloton made a right hand turn onto the meat of the climb with five kilometres to finish.

Much of the peloton remained intact with four kilometres to go when Nibali’s right hand man Brian Vandborg took over the pace  and shattered the peloton. The group was hit again with an impressive attack from Rodriguez that landed him in a solo move nearly 15 seconds ahead of a group of 20 odds-on climbers.

"I wanted to win the stage and I attacked to try to win the stage for the jersey," Rodriguez said. "The team worked well especially in the finish. We have several strong climbers."

The group of climbers behind the escapee included teammate Serpa, Valls, Rasmussen, Nibali, Giacinti and Ignacio Pereyra (Team Argentina), Luca Mazzanti and Maxime Vantomme (Katusha), Javier Moreno and Jose Gomez (Andalucia-Cajasur), Raul Granjel (Team Cuba) and Pedro Merino (Footon-Servetto).

With one kilometre to go Valls launched himself out of the peloton in pursuit of Rodriguez. Alcolea was the only rider able to respond and he followed approximately 100 metres behind. Valls held a nearly sprint[like pace for the duration of the final kilometre, passing Rodriguez on his way to victory.

Alcolea mustered up enough strength to surge past Rodriguez with 50 metres to the line. Rodriguez hung onto third place ahead of his teammate Serpa in fourth and Nibali in fifth.

All eyes were on Rasmussen who returned to a full season of racing with Miche Silver Cross following the completion of a two-year suspension last summer. The Dane was pleased with his ninth place performance and credited much of his success to his teammate Fortunato Baliani.

"The objective was to do a good race and if possible finish in the top ten," said Rasmussen. "I guess I reached the objective for the day. My team was riding strong and racing at the front and that was very positive that they have faith in me. There was a very strong headwind today. The other two times I tried this climb we flew up it in training but today there were a lot of tactics going on. When the Footon rider attacked everyone dropped their handlebars and no one could do anything."

San Luis Formula One Raceway

The Tour de San Luis second stage took the riders on six laps of a newly built Formula One track in Potrero De Los Funes. Later, the course shot the peloton out onto undulating terrain toward a second set of circuits around the La Florida Lake before turning back toward the first mountaintop finish, a five-kilometre ascent to the Mirador De Los Funes. The road race totaled 157 kilometres.

Racing on the Formula One track motivated the peloton to push the pace in the opening three laps. Arguably the most aggressive rider in the first half of the race was Robert Bengsch (German Team) who proved to be the most savvy and fearless descender on the circuit’s technical descent.

Bengsch forced the first breakaway of the day that included overall classification contenders Michael Rasmussen (Miche), Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas) and defending overall champion Alfredo Lucero (Team) Argentina. Other riders in the break included Daniel Diaz and Max Bade (Team Argentina), Pablo Seisdedos (Team Chile), Weimar Roldan (Team Colombia), Alexander Kolobnev (Katusha), David Gutierrez (Footon Servetto), Jesus Rosendo (Andalucia-Cajasur), Demis Aleman (Xacobeo-Galicia) and Luciano Pagliarini (Scott-Marcondes).

Rasmussen, Nibali and Lucero kept a close eye on one another. The Danish climber tried to motivate the large break by signaling to the group with his arms rotating in the air. However, the riders continued to surge and sit up multiple times that ultimately lead to the break’s demise.

Upon exiting the circuits, Bengsch made one final attack to escape the field followed by Yasmani Martinez, Allen Garcia and Freddy Buergos (Team Cuba) along with Pedro Palma (Team Chile). Garcia picked up full points toward the Best Sprinter classification by winning the first intermediate sprint on the day.

The break of five riders gained a healthy nine-minute advantage as the peloton behind settled into its own rhythm for the day, unthreatened by the riders ahead.

La Florida vacationers welcome the bike race

La Florida, a local vacation hot spot, welcomed the international peloton for two 20-kilometre circuits that included two intermediate King of the Mountains sprint. The five riders worked well together passing several small climbs and descending across multiple bridges that linked the rocky hillsides.

Martinez caught the breakaway off guard on both laps when he attacked at the base of the one kilometre ascent. He picked up full points in both King of the Mountain toward the event’s Best Climber category.

The breakaway exited the second circuit with a slim one and half minute margin. Back in the peloton teams with promising overall contenders pushed the pace in order to close down the gap on the way back toward the final climb of the day. However, with more than 50 kilometres remaining, the second stage was far from decided.

Bengsch took full points at the second and final intermediate sprint zone of the day. The five riders were reabsorbed back into the peloton with 20 kilometres to the base of the final climb of the day, Mirador De Los Funes.