Cavendish wins opening stage at Tour de San Luis

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Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) claimed the opening stage of Tour de San Luis, a 164km test from San Luis to Villa Mercedes. It was the perfect start for the British rider who joined the Belgian team in the winter. He pipped Sacha Modolo (Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox) and Alessandro Petacchi (Lampre-Merida) to the line and also become the first leader of the race.

While Cavendish's speed and execution gave the impression of a clear cut win, it was anything but with a crash inside the last 500 metres as a number of debut lead-out trains attempted to compete.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step was made to work for the win too, not only setting the tempo when a seven-man break quick established themselves but also in the closing kilometres. Sylvain Chavanel, who had ridden tempo for much of the stage, provided one last pull for Cavendish and when the Belgian team began to fade inside the final 500 metres Cavendish seized his opportunity, leaping to Lampre-Merida's train before unleashing his sprint with 250 metres to go.

"All the teams are fresh and motivated, so it was real, real chaos," Cavendish said of the stage 1 finale. "It was hard to stay together. I had a few guys with me, and in the finishing straight, within one kilometre or 400 metres it was just kind of about staying at the front.

"It was hard with a bit of a dip into the finish and nothing really marking 100 metres or 200 metres, so I just kind of jumped at 250 metres. I knew when I jumped I'd have a good shot at it, even though there was some wind. I'm so happy I could win."

Cavendish was quick to praise the work of his new teammates for providing him with the opportunity to vie for victory in his first race of the season. "The team did a great job for me today," Cavendish said. "We were the first team to start riding, with Martin Velits at the beginning, we were present at the front the whole day. We got help from other teams too, the sprinter teams, but the guys just rode so strong and stayed with me the whole day. It is so nice to have a team with me that is 100 percent committed. I'm so, so proud of the guys today."

The frantic finale was merely the culmination of a difficult stage. On paper the parcours appeared relatively uncomplicated, with a long finishing straight and only the Argentine road furniture in the way.

And with the majority of the WorldTour teams content to ease their legs into a news season and catch up for the first time this year, Gabriel N. Juarez (Argentina), Martin Hacecky (ASC Dukla Praha), Magno Nazaret (Funvic Brasilinvest), Juan A. Lucero (San Luis Somos Todos), Walter F. Perez (Buenos Aires Provincia), Flavio De Luna (Mexico) and Guido Palma (Jamis-Hagens Berman) were allowed to escape.

The seven leaders built up a a healthy eight-minute lead as they raced over the only categorised climb of Alto Saladillo at 55 kilometres. However, the European sprinters have not come to Argentina just to soak up the sun and Omega Pharma-Quick Step, Cannondale, Androni Giocattoli and Lampre-Merida all had reason to organise a chase. Omega Pharma was first on the scene, limiting the break to four minutes by the time they raced through Viejo Almacen with 55 kilometres remaining.

Perez picked up both intermediate sprints, with De Luna doing enough to secure the KOM jersey by winning the sprint on the only climb of the stage, rated third category.

Inside the last 50km the break began to split: cooperation wasn't a problem, fatigue was, with Hacecky breaking clear and Perez attempting to give chase. A brief reformation took place with Hacecky, Perez, Juarez and Nazaret joining forces but their advantage over a now focused peloton was under 2:45 and slipping fast.

Lampre-Merida, Bardiani, BMC and Cannondale joined Omega Pharma on the front. Cannondale Pro Cycling was intent on leading Lucas Sebastian Haedo to the line, Sagan offering his services as lead-out, but in the chaos, and the crash, the pair split from each other, with Lampre smartly working off the back of Omega's effort to dominate the sprint. Cavendish, however, navigated the chaotic finale to perfection and was a clear winner.