Diniz climbs to victory in San Luis

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Brazil's Alex Diniz (Funvic Brasilinvest) claimed the victory on the queen stage of the 2013 Tour de San Luis, winning in a solo effort atop the 8km final climb to take over the lead in the general classification.

The 27-year-old, who returned in 2011 from a two-year doping suspension, finished ahead of Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini), Michal Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Bart De Clercq (Lotto Belison) and Tejay van Garderen (BMC). Alberto Contador (Saxo Bank), Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) and Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) all crumbled on the punishing ascent to Mirador del Potrero and are out of the battle for the overall win.

Diniz attacked at the foot of the final climb and although Saxo Bank, Astana and BMC controlled the peloton on the lower slopes, the Brazilian - nicknamed half-pint - maintained a slim advantage as the gradient increased in the Rio Grande.

As Contador and Nibali wilted it was Van den Broeck and van Garderen who marshalled the group of favourites, with Santambrogio, giving his former BMC teammate a run for his money, and Michal Kwiatkowski sprinting clear to take third on the stage. The Pole, who told Cyclingnews at the finish that climbing used to be his weak point, could be van Garderen's major rival for the general classification, although both riders were quick to dismiss any potential outcome in race with two more mountain stages to come.

Diniz was understandably ecstatic at the finish, this his first win outside of Brazil and by far his biggest scalp. Inside the final two kilometres he continually rose from the saddle as often as he checked over his shoulder, expecting a pass from a Contador or Nibali.

"This is a huge win for me and for cycling in Brazil," he said at the finish. "I knew that I had little chance against the WorldTour riders if I stayed with them on the climb so I had to go early and try and hang on. I was sure they would catch me before the finish but every time I looked back I couldn't see anyone coming."

Behind him Mathias Frank was riding tempo for van Garderen, with Astana and Saxo Bank also pulling until their ring-rusty leaders caved in and sat up.

Today's finale may have been a surprise - not many pundits had Diniz down as a potential winner - but there isn't too much about San Luis that is predictable.

It's a far cry from the Tour or any other of ASO's monopoly of riches, and long may it continue. The salle de press is a mini-van, not a concrete jungle or palais de congres; Mario Cipollini's ex-leadout man Giovanni Lombardi is the race's Christian Prudhomme, and Ivan Basso's attorney is a motorbike pilot.

The people of San Luis are passionate but relaxed in equal measures. When they say the depart is at 11am what they really mean is that you should be ready to leave at 11:45 and bring your bikes in case there's a race. But they put on a show and have a parcours to rival any week-long stage race in the UCI calendar. No wonder so many of the Grand Tour riders choose Argentina over Australia.

After two relatively calm stages, Wednesday's action was the first encounter into the mountains. The relevance wasn't missed by the WorldTour teams who for the first time this week infiltrated the early escape with Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale) and Eloy Teruel (Movistar) joining up with Leandro Messineo (San Luis Somos Todos), Flavio De Luna (Mexico), Jorge Giacinti (San Luis Somos Todos) and Claudio Arone (Buenos Aires Provincia).

Chavanel's appearance was somewhat of a surprise given that tomorrow's time trial parcours suits him perfectly. However, a number of GC favourites predicted that the early break had a chance if the likes of Contador and Nibali called a stalemate and refused to work. Chavanel's efforts meant at least that his Omega Pharma team could relax after spending two days on the front and the break quickly established a seven minute lead at the 48 kilometre mark.

Then came the test of the Alto de Nogoli, a category one-rated mountain pass with pitches and range to test even the best climbers and featuring the Tour de San Luis's highest elevation: 2,084m. The gruppetto formed and at the peak Giacinti took the maximum points and the KOM jersey, with Chavanel in second and Gastauer in third.

Then on the descent the group began to fracture, Chavanel sitting up and waiting for the peloton, as Messineo, Giacinti, Teruel and Gastauer (AG2R) pressed on. Their advantage had dwindled to 1:30 with 45 kilometres remaining. With 10 kilometres to go the break was engulfed by a 40-strong peloton and Diniz was itching to make his move.