Vuelta a San Juan: Villalobos takes a big win

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Roman Villalobos scored a major victory for his Canel's-Specialized team, latching onto a late breakaway with Lotto Soudal's Tiesj Benoot, then riding a strong tailwind to a sprint victory over Ricardo Escuela (A.C.A. Virgen De Fatima) on stage 2 of the Vuelta a San Juan.

Villalobos also took the race lead over Escuela thanks to the time bonus. Benoot finished third on the stage and sits third overall, being caught just on the line by the chasing peloton.

Villalobos now enjoys a four-second lead in the general classification over Escuela, with Benoot at six and overnight leader Fernando Gaviria (Quick-Step Floors) down to fourth at eight seconds.

The win is the biggest of Villalobos' career, and the 27-year-old Costa Rican said it was dream that was hatched the morning of the stage.

"I told my teammates in the morning before the stage that I wanted to win," he said at the post-stage press conference. "We knew that we’d have to have a strong team to be in the first part of the peloton but with experience I could win the stage."

The trio escaped in the closing kilometres and cooperated well together, but as the peloton started bearing down in the final 500 metres, Benoot took the initiative and went to the front to ensure they stayed away. Villalobos timed his track perfectly, with Escuala trailing along and moving ahead of Bennot at the line.

"I felt that I had a very good attack in the final, so when Benoot attacked I knew I could go for him," Villalobos said. 

How it unfolded

The 149.9km second stage started and finished along a scenic reservoir at Peri Lago Punta Negra Dam. The route featured four category 3 KOMs, coming at 37.5km, 63.5km, 91.5 and 119.5km. The final climb was just 30.4km from the finish.

There were also two intermediate sprints with time bonuses at 50.5km and 111.1km. The road to the finish climbed significantly before flattening out just before the line.

A quartet of riders slipped away from the bunch after 14km of attacks. In the group were Gerardo Tavani (Municipalidad de Pocito), Roderich Aconegui (Uruguay), Carlos Alzate (UnitedHealthcare) and Ignacio de Jesus Prado (Cenel's Specilized).

The trio quickly built a gap of 2:30 over the next six kilomteres. The leaders weren't satisfied with that gap, however, and their advantage went out to more than five minutes as they crossed the dam that created the reservoir.

On the first KOM of the day, Alto de Ullum, Aconegui took top points ahead of Tivani and Prado, while the gap to the peloton continued to hover around five minutes. Shortly after that, Tivani grabbed the first intermediate sprint ahead of Alzate and Aconegui, while Quick-Step led the chase in the peloton.

Tivani took maximum points at the second KOM, while Prado and Alzate crossed the line second and third, respectively. Aconegui lost contact on the climb. and the lead group as down to three.

The gap started coming down from there, an the breakaway suffered another blow when and when Tivani punctured after finishing second to Prado on the third KOM just before a fast descent, suddenly the lead group was down to just two riders. At 50km, the leaders' advantage was just 2:45.

Chile threw several riders into the chase, perhaps liking their chances in the uphill sprint, but when the gap didn't come down with 40km remaining, Quick-Step went back to the front.

Alzate took the second and final sprint of the day, and Prado won the final KOM eight kilometres later.

With 31km remaining, the SEP de San Juan team stacked riders on the front, and the gap quickly came below two minutes. With 30km to go it was 1:20. The SEP team pulled the gap down to 20 seconds, and the escapee's day off the front was almost over. Alzate and Prado succumbed to the chase with 25km to go.

A new group of six formed on the front, including Movistar's Winner Anacona, Jose Rodriguez (SEP de San Juan). Jeovane de Oliviera (Brasil), Marco Arriagada (Municipalidad de Pocito), Ceasar Paredes (Medellin Inter), Jelle Wallay (Lotto Soudal) and one other.

Quick-Step once again took up the chase with three riders, while the breakaway started coming apart and losing time, and everyone was back in the fold again with 15km to go.

Mattia Bais (Italy) was the next rider to try his luck. But with the sprinters' teams bearing down on the finish and Bora-Hansgrohe leading the chase, his chances were slim. He had 18 seconds with 10km to go, but he was always within sight of the bunch.

Caja Rural Seguros RGA came up next to Help Bora, and the advantage was quickly down to eight. Teams started lining up their trains in the front of the pack, while Bais' lead steadily shrunk. They made the catch with 7km remaining.

The attackes flew on the climb to the dam, with Jhonathan Narvaez (Quick-Step) putting in a dig that was countered by Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe), but Villalobos was glued to his wheel waiting for the perfect moment, then latched onto Benoot.

"When the attacks arrived, I knew that I had good legs," Villalobos said. "When I saw the attack of Majka, I knew that I had also to do one attack, so we made a very good group with Escuela and Benoot."

The tailwind helped them hold 10 seconds as they hit the final turn, and the Costa Rican proved quickest in the finale.

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