Mate heads Androni 1-2 at Mirador Del Sol

Luis Mate (Androni-Giocattoli) scored a hard-fought victory atop the Mirador Del Sol on stage six of the Tour de San Luis on Saturday. His teammate, Jose Serpa sprinted in for second place ahead of race leader Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) in third place.

"This is a grand victory for me," Mate said. "The whole team worked so well. It was Jose [Serpa] who was trying to get away to win the race, but Nibali was so strong today. Instead we tried to go for the stage win. Jackson attacked, Serpa attacked and I went for the sprint in the end."

A handful of Androni-Giocattoli riders captured the top places in the stage but Liquigas-Doimo’s Vincenzo Nibali remained atop the most coveted podium as the overall leader of the tour. The decorated Italian sits 28 seconds ahead of Jose Serpa and 1:19 ahead of Rafael Valls (Footon-Servetto) heading into the seventh and final stage, to be held in San Luis on Sunday.

"This was the last decisive day. Tomorrow is a flat stage and the last one," Nibali said. "Tomorrow I know that my team will control the race and they will work very well like they have these last days. I am very happy. If I win tomorrow we [Liquigas-Doimo] will be very pleased with this victory."

Androni-Giocattoli prove team strength

The peloton was briefly relieved from the dry summer heat with a short burst of rain that drenched the riders as they approached the final climb up to the finish line in Mirador Del Sol.

Strong climbers emerged from the peloton and swallowed the remnants of the early breakaway. Marco Garcia (Xacobeo-Galicia) made the first move of the day and held onto a 10-second lead for the first two kilometres of the ascent through the small town of Merlo.

The climb steepened, forcing the weaker climbers to fall off pace and the internationally renowned climbers to take their positions on the front. Michael Rasmussen (Miche Silver Cross) did much of the work bringing back the stray breakaway riders as race leader Nibali sat protected on his wheel.

Serpa attacked once in a final effort to try to move ahead of Nibali in the overall classification. Nibali chased his way back onto Serpa’s wheel with Rafael Valls (Footon-Servetto) in tow. The three riders gained a slim lead ahead of a group of seven. However, a game of cat and mouse between them allowed the others to catch up.

"I tried to attack Nibali in order to win the race," Serpa said. "This was the last opportunity that I had to win the race but I couldn’t get away. I want to congratulate Nibali, who's a great cyclist. He rode very well. I am a little sad not to win but equally I am happy for my teammates who did so well this week. "

The front group included four Androni-Giocattoli riders including Mate, Serpa, Jackson Rodriguez and Carlos Ochoa, along with Nibali, Rasmussen, Valls, Robert Kiserlovksi (Liquigas-Doimo), Moritz Milatz (Team Germany) and Ignacio Pereyra (Team Argentina).

"We are very happy with the way the team rode today," Savio said. "All the guys stayed at the front of the race and used great tactics. I am very pleased with Luis Mate because he is a great rider and he is always working for his teammates."

Stage five winner Jackson Rodriguez attacked with 800 metres to the finish line, however, the stage was to end in a sprint between his teammates, Nibali and Valls. Mate won the stage ahead of Serpa and Nibali. Rodriguez hung on for fourth place and Ochoa finished sixth.

"There were four riders from that team [Androni-Giocattoli] but I only had to watch one of them: Serpa," Nibali said. "The other riders in that group were one or two minutes back."

Another breakaway bites the dust in Argentina

The peloton made a lengthy transfer to the small city of Quines to start stage six of the Tour de San Luis. The 150-kilometre road race kicked off with an initial 20-kilometre climb to the top of Cantana. The peloton continued toward the final climb of the day, a 25-kilometre ascent that passed through the small town of Merlo before finishing at the top of Mirador Del Sol.

An early break away of six riders muscled over the first ascent together with a five minute advantage over the peloton. Liquigas-Doimo set a tempo fast enough to keep the breakaway in check, however, none of the escaped riders posed an imminent threat to Vincenzo Nibali’s overall lead.

Jorge Montenegro (Andalucia-Cajasur) picked up full points atop the first King of the Mountain. He was the rider who initiated the break and had been followed soon after by Martin Garrido (Team Argentina). The pair were then quickly joined by bridging riders Rodrigo Garcia (Xacobeo-Galicia), Jairo Perez (Team Colombia), Magno Nazaret (Scott-Marcondes) and Luis Mansilla (Team Chile).

The breakaway rolled across undulating terrain as they worked their way through the valley between the first and the last climbs of the day. They continued to work together and by the 90-kilometre mark reached a maximum advantage of eight and half minutes. Nazaret was the highest placed rider in the general classification, precisely eight and half minuted behind leader Nibali.

Chile’s Mansilla sprinted ahead of Argentina’s Garrido for the intermediate sprint points located 92 kilometres into the race. The breakaway continued on with a five-minute advantage toward the second intermediate sprint, where Mansilla again took maximum points.

The six riders made a U-turn and back tracked toward the base of the final climb to Mirador Del Sol, which saw them cross paths with the Liquigas-Doimo led peloton. One rider from Footon-Servetto and Androni-Giocattoli helped in the chase to further reduce the time margin to the breakaway before the climb.

As in the previous four road stages, the most significant breakaway of the day had suffered through dust, heat and dehydration only to be shut down by the peloton in the final kilometres of the race. Even the one last ditch effort from Colombian Perez was not enough to hold of the strength of the climbers who flew up the climb behind him.

The Tour de San Luis will conclude following the seventh and final stage, a 167-kilometre road race held on a 58-kilometre circuit in and around the host city of San Luis.