Vuelta a San Juan: Florez wins on Alto Colorado

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The stage honours fell to Miguel Eduardo Florez (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec), but the 2020 Vuelta a San Juan's visit to the rarefied air of Alto Colorado for stage 5 of the Argentinian race on Friday will be remembered for a remarkable fightback from Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck-QuickStep), who closed a gap of over a minute on the gradual haul to the finish after being caught out when the peloton splintered into echelons inside the final 40 kilometres.

Evenepoel had warned beforehand that the crosswinds on the interminable rise from Talacasto might be more testing than the climb to the finish, some 2,565 metres above sea level, and so it proved. One would not have expected Deceuninck-QuickStep – masters at navigating the wind in northern Europe – to be caught out here, but when an echelon of danger-men, including Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) and Filippo Ganna (Italy) formed with 35km to go, Evenepoel was not present.

"There were big echelons in the front and I was a bit closed in, and I was in the second echelon," Evenepoel said afterwards. "I had to chase very hard to come back. I had one teammate who could help me and then I had to do it alone, but I was able to keep the white jersey and didn't lose time."

Caught in the second group on the road, Evenepoel had only teammate Pieter Serry for company. When his efforts were exhausted, the 20-year-old took it upon himself to lead the chase, with occasional help from an ally of circumstance, Oscar Sevilla (Team Medellin).

With 20km remaining, however, Evenpoel was still 1:18 down on the front group, which was being driven by UAE Team Emirates and a Bora-Hansgrohe delegation that included Peter Sagan. Ganna was the virtual leader of the general classification, while McNulty and Nelson Oliveira (Movistar) were also poised to move up.

Over the next 13km, Evenepoel slowly began to turn the tide, clawing back inches with each revolution of the pedals. It was reminiscent, perhaps, of his fightback at the junior World Championships in Innsbruck, Austria, in 2018, and another feat of outlandish strength to be catalogued among the labours of this apparent pocket Hercules. 

Evenepoel closed to within touching distance as the Alto Colorado proper began with 14km to go, and, as the gradient stiffened, the front group fragmented. Ten kilometres from the top, McNulty clipped away in the company of Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), and they were soon joined by Florez and Juan Javier Melivilo (Pocito), but Evenepoel's arrival was imminent.

The group driven by Evenepoel made contact with the frontrunners with 8.5km remaining, and, from that point, it was clear that the white jersey would remain on the Belgian's shoulders on Friday evening. The question now, perhaps, was whether the stage victory was also in his sights. It was, but his legs, for once, were not quite up to the task after he had helped to whittle the front group down to 10 riders or so approaching the steepest section with 3km remaining. 

When Martin attacked with 2.5km to go, Evenepoel was instantly on his wheel, but his own subsequent dig was snuffed out by Sevilla. The finale was a slugging match, with McNulty, Evenepoel and Martin all trying to attack, but at an altitude of 2,565m, none of them could get any purchase on their accelerations. 

Instead it was Flores who ripped clear inside the final 500 metres to claim a decisive victory, two seconds ahead of Sevilla and McNulty. Flores, a native of Bogota, is still only 23 years of age, and made his Giro d'Italia debut in 2019, during what was his first season at Gianni Savio's Androni squad. Martin came home in fourth, just ahead of Evenepoel and a determined Filippo Ganna, who saved his second place on GC with a measured performance on the final ascent.

In the overall standings, Evenepoel holds a lead of 33 seconds over Ganna, while Sevilla remains in third, now 1:01 behind. McNulty moves up to fourth, at 1:21, giving the American further reason to lament the high winds that affected his time trial effort on stage 3, while Flores is fifth, at 2:11.

"The last two stages will probably be two sprints so hopefully we can keep the bunch together and I can do my work for Alvaro Hodeg," Evenepoel said. "And hopefully I can keep the jersey until Sunday."

That doesn't seem to be in much doubt.

How it unfolded

There was no neutralised zone at the beginning of stage 5 of the Vuelta a San Juan. Instead, once the flag was waved on San Martín's Avenida Sarmiento, the speed went from 0-50kph in the time it took for two cannons of ticker tape to litter the start line. There was no gentle introduction to the race's most arduous day.

The riot of early accelerations eventually calmed into an early break composed of Emiliano Contreras (Transportes Puertas de Cuyo), Daniel Juarez (Agrupacion Virgen De Fatima), Gerardo Atencio (Equipo Continental Municipalidad de Pocito), Francisco Montes (Argentina), Magno Nazaret (Sindicato Empleados Públicos of San Juan), Nelson Andrés Soto (Colombia Tierra de Atletas-GW Bicicletas) and Antonio Zullo (Amore & Vita-Prodir). This septet established a lead in excess of four minutes by the 50km mark, before Evenepoel's Deceuninck-QuickStep team began whittling down that advantage on the day's first climb to Alto de Villicum.

The final 80km of the stage were climbed gradually, bringing the race from Talacasto (altitude 959m) to the finish in three instalments: Baños de Talacasto, Alto de la Crucecita and the final haul to the line at Alto Colorado, 2,565m above sea level. But the turning point of the stage would come on the high plateau that led towards the base of the final climb proper.

Taking advantage of the crosswinds, UAE Team Emirates and Bora-Hansgrohe massed on the front and set a fearsome pace, splitting the bunch into echelons. Ganna, Martin and the Movistar duo of Eduardo Sepulveda and Nelson Oliveira were among those to surf the chaos make the cut.

When they turned around to survey their work, they saw that Evenepoel and Deceuninck-QuickStep were unexpectedly floundering. A door had unexpectedly opened for men like Ganna and McNulty, only for Evenepoel to conjure up a way to slam it shut.

Results

General classification