Second win for Gaviria in Tour de San Luis

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Lightning strikes twice. When Fernando Gaviria beat Mark Cavendish to the punch on the opening stage of the Tour de San Luis, it could, as he admitted himself, have been dismissed as a mere stroke of good fortune. In Juana Koslay on Wednesday, the young Colombian confirmed that there was nothing fortunate about that win, as he claimed his second victory in three days, once again relegating Cavendish to second place.

Gaviria’s final effort on the slightly uphill finishing straight was not so much a sprint as an acceleration reminiscent of Beppe Saronni’s famous fucilata in Goodwood all those years ago. As on Monday, the 20-year-old went early, with over 300 metres to go, after his Colombian national team lead-out had overhauled the Etixx-QuickStep train inside the final kilometre.

That initial burst from Gaviria saw him tear off a two-length gap over Cavendish by the crown of the gentle final bend, and it was telling that he coughed up precious little of that advantage in the closing metres, punching the air as he free-wheeled across the line. Cavendish came home in second, while Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) held off Yauheni Hutarovich (Bretagne-Séché) for third.

“When I won on the first day, you might have said it was a fluke but this is a bit of a confirmation because everybody was more aware of me and I still won,” Gaviria said afterwards. “They told me before the stage that it was a slightly uphill finish here and we know that it wouldn’t suit Cavendish as well, so with the team we decided to try and get a jump on him early.”

More in frustration than in protest, Cavendish raised a hand as he crossed the line and looked behind him with annoyance. He had no complaints about the regularity of the sprint but after the podium ceremonies, he told reporters that his lead-out train hadn’t responded quickly enough when the Colombian team outflanked them in the final kilometre.

“He had a super fast lead-out. They went and [Fabio] Sabatini hesitated,” Cavendish said. “In the end, I had to leave Saba because they’d gone too far ahead but in the end Saba’s not a lead-out man. But you can’t be upset because this guy is super fast.”

Long road south

Wednesday’s start brought the race and its entourage to Concarán in the northeastern corner of San Luis province, and on the two-hour bus ride from their hotels to the village depart, the peloton had a preview of the terrain they would face on the road back south – flat, exposed and fast.

The early exchanges followed a familiar script, as a six-man break slipped up the road and they were granted their day pass from a peloton content to call a temporary truce in the opening hours of racing. Ismael Laguna (Argentina), Guido Palma (Buenos Aires Provincia), Giacomo Berlato (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Franco Lopardo (SEP San Juan), Kiel Reijnan (UnitedHealthcare) and José Rodriguez (Chile) quickly established a lead of five minutes over the bunch, and with 100 kilometres remaining, they still had 3:30 of that buffer in hand.

As on the opening two stages, crashes were a running hazard. Novo Nordisk’s Charles Planet was forced out of the race after crashing midway through the race, and another spill in the finale brought the total number of abandons on the day up to five. Out in front, meanwhile, the six escapees were putting up stout resistance and they defended a lead of 2:30 as they hit the final 50 kilometres.

From there, however, the speed ratcheted upwards in the peloton, while the terrain, too, became significantly more trying thanks to the seemingly interminable false flats on the approach to the finish. The break’s defiance was quenched inside the final 20 kilometres, and there was precious little scope for anyone to escape the peloton thereafter, despite the efforts of Ted King (Garmin-Cannondale) and Adrian Alvarado (Chile).

With world champion Michal Kwiatkowski again very much to the fore, Etixx-QuickStep seemed to have matters under control on the run-in, but there was no legislating for the sheer ferocity of Gaviria’s acceleration in the finale. “He’s a track rider, he was junior world champion on the track and you can see from his acceleration that he’s a track rider,” Cavendish said admiringly. “He’s a very good guy.”

Gaviria returned the compliment in his post-race press conference, confessing that simply competing against Cavendish had been the realisation of a dream. “Cavendish is the best sprinter on the planet and to beat him brings me immense pride,” Gaviria said. “I’ve seen him win stages on the Tour de France on television and he always impressed me.”

The Colombian is set to compete in the omnium at the Track World Championships in Paris next month and after winning the World Cup in London in December, he will travel to France on something of a high. For now, however, Gaviria has eyes only for the final opportunity for the sprinters in San Luis on Sunday. “I’m not even thinking about the Worlds right now, it’s all about this race,” he said.

Diaz retains lead

The mighty Alto El Amago rears into view Thursday afternoon as attention returns to the battle for final overall victory. Despite the spate of crashes in the finale, Dani Diaz (Funvic) enjoyed a relatively untroubled first day in the leader’s jersey. He retains a lead of 6 seconds over Rodolfo Torres (Colombia) and 27 seconds over a clutch of riders including Dani Moreno (Katusha) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar).

“Tomorrow’s climb is a long one and I think that it can make a big difference. It will be more significant than yesterday but it’s not necessarily decisive. There’s still the time trial the next day, which doesn’t suit me, and then another summit finish,” said Diaz, who listed Moreno, Torres and Sergio Godoy (San Luis Somos Todos) as his principal rivals for overall victory.

When he was reminded that he had neglected to mention Quintana, Diaz smiled apologetically. “Certainly Nairo is one of the best climbers in the world, and so on a climb like that he should be up there.”

The verdict of the Alto El Amago awaits.

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