Tour de San Luis: Tivani wins stage 5 in Juana Koslay

Image 1 of 60

20-year-old German Tivani, riding for Argentina, claimed the biggest victory of his career by out-sprinting his breakaway companions to win stage 5 of the Tour de San Luis.

Tivani defeated defnding Tour de San Luis champion Dani Diaz (Deklo Marseile Provence KTM), and Emiliano Ibarra (S.E.P San Juan) in a three-man dash for the line.

The breakway did not threaten the lead of Eduardo Sepulveda (Fortuneo-Vital Concept), who kept his three second advantage on Dayer Quintana (Movistar) and his brother Nairo at 42 seconds.

In what was on paper a perfect day for the sprinters, the race seemed to be going to script. A four-man breakaway escaped early in the stage, being allowed five minutes before the sprinters' teams slowly began reducing the gap.

The honours went to Ramiro Cabrera (Uruguay), Ibarra, Tivani and Diaz for the day's leading group.

The four riders were kept in check by the Fortuneo-Vital Concept team of race leader Eduardo Sepulveda and the Italian National Team for Elia Viviani, and things were running smoothly.

At 110km to go the leaders had five minutes. At 30km to go that gap had been cut in half. But then, a massive crash at the front of the peloton led the peloton to put on the brakes as the victims got themselves going again. Among those was Nairo Quintana, and his teammate Adriano Malori, who had to abandon the race.

Meanwhile, Cabrera had been distanced by the now three-man breakaway, and the bunch sprint was no longer an inevitability.

Finally, the chase resumed with 25km to go in fits and starts, but by then the three leaders had four minutes and making the catch would be difficult. The Italians pushed nonetheless for Viviani, Etixx-Quickstep for Gaviria, and Lampre-Merida for Roberto Ferrari.

Up ahead, Diaz attacked his companions inside the 3km to go mark, with Tavira and Ibarra fighting hard to hold his wheel.

The trio remained together at 1km to go, knowing they would be contesting the stage win they began planning their sprint strategies. Tivani sat on the front, closely watching the others, Ibarra tacked on the back, biding his time. Diaz stayed tucked in between, but it was Tivani who led from the front and held on for the stage victory.

Minutes behind, the peloton was led home by Viviani, too little, too late.

Full Results