Modolo quickest in Tour de San Luis finale

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With a technical, high-speed finale, the final Tour de San Luis stage was, on paper, perfect for Peter Sagan (Cannondale) to win on his 24th birthday. Those plans were foiled by the Lampre-Merida team as Sacha Modolo was delivered to a perfect position by his teammate Max Richeze and managed to hold off the Slovakian to take his team's second win of the year.

Sagan was unable to get to the front in the final bend, which came just 100m from the line, but managed to get ahead of Richeze for second.

"Our strategy was the best because they (Cannondale) went very long in the final sprint and we waited near the front. I knew if I could start my sprint on the last little climb I could win," said Modolo.

For Modolo, it was the second straight year he won the Tour de San Luis stage into Terrazas del Portezuelo. The 26-year-old Italian, who spent the previous four years on Pro Continental teams, now has the increased horsepower and experience of WorldTour teammates supporting him.

"It's different than last year. Last year it (final kilometres) was slower, this year it was very fast. Last year I had to come from behind, this year I started sprinting from the front and it was completely different."

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) finished safely in the bunch to take home the overall victory, while Phil Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp) maintained second overall over local rider Sergio Godoy (San Luis Somos Todos).

"It's an important win when it comes to motivation for the rest of the year," Quintana said. "I didn't make any specific training for the beginning of the season, though we had expected to start a bit stronger than last year. I had no major problems during my preparations and I felt really well throughout the race."

Quintana suffered from stomach problems along with a large portion of the rest of the peloton in the race's opening stages, but luckily had until stage four to recover in order to put his talents to good use on the 10km long Alto de Amago. He took the lead the next day over Gaimon in the time trial, and extended it slightly on the Mirador del Sol on the penultimate stage.

"I must thank everyone at the team, because they believed in me from the very first day and protected me all the way to the end of the race. That's crucial, because though you feel strong, you end up paying your efforts if you have no strong teammates - they make things much easier."

Quintana will now head to Spain for the Movistar team launch and then return to Colombia for the birth of his first child in February.

How it unfolded

While the final stage to Terrazas del Portezuelo was predominantly flat and expected to be a day for the sprinters, there was still some unfinished business to settle in the mountains classification.

Just 17km into the day's racing stood the final KOM of the Tour de San Luis, the category 3 Alto Los Puquios, and with double-mountain stage winner Julian Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing) just two points behind mountains leader (and GC leader) Nairo Quintana, the Movistar Colombian's grip on the jersey wasn't entirely certain. However, for Arredondo to take the jersey he'd have to win the KOM while Quintana would have to finish no better than fourth.

The pace was fast and furious soon after kilometre zero and ultimately Quintana put a final punctuation mark on his Tour de San Luis as the first rider to reach the KOM, sealing the mountains jersey. Arredondo was shut out of scoring any points and had to settle for second in the classification.

Soon afterward, the usual order of events came to fruition with a four-man break going clear. On the attack were Carlos Ochoa (Androni Giocattoli), Carlos Betancur (AG2R La Mondiale), Juan Pablo Valencia (Team Colombia) and Cleberson Weber (Clube Dataro de Ciclismo-Bottecchia).

Lampre-Merida, working for Sacha Modolo, took to the front to keep the break in check and the front quartet were unable to extend their lead beyond three minutes.

Eventually the other teams with sprint ambitions contributed riders to the chase and the break was absorbed inside of 30km to the finish, setting up a frenetic and chaotic final sprint.

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