2014 Tour de San Luis Stage 2

Julian Arredondo won stage 2 of the 2014 Tour de San Luís at the summit of the Mirador del Potrero de los Funes in Argentina today.

In a battle with Peter Stetina, Arredondo initiated a fierce acceleration toward the end of today’s 170-kilometer – to nix the American rider at the finish.

 Nairo Quintana followed in third. 

“It’s a very important victory,” said Arredondo.

After Stetina attacked roughly 1km into the climb, the duo rode clear during the final 2 kilometers. 

“It was a tactical climb and there was a real bad headwind,” said Stetina.  After a kilometer, it swelled and I looked over at Darwin , who’s our climbing extraordinaire. He nodded at me, so I decided to hit out and make it hard. Otherwise, it would be too much drafting all the way up. You know, I got a gap immediately and I was hoping that either it would shatter behind and Darwin could come up to me or he could just across.”

At the end of the race, Stetina frowned upon the fact that Arredondo chose to sit on his wheel – rather than take the front. 

“He wasn’t willing to take a pull,” said Stetina. “That was his tactic. He was willing to lose it more than I was, and that’s why he won. He had a better kick than I did.”

The closing minutes of today’s stage saw a group of five riders rapidly approaching Stetina, Arredondo and Quintana from behind. It was in the final 200 meters that Stetina attacked. But, that was all for not, as Arredondo managed to pass him just in time to nip him on line. 

“My plan was to follow Quintana all the way up the climb, but when Stetina attacked, I just followed the wheel,” he said. “I sat on, and had more than him at the finish. I dedicate this victory to my family, and to my new Trek teammates.”

Yesterday’s stage 1 winner, Phil Gaimon, finished 15th at 19 seconds back to retain his lead over Marc de Maar by 1:47.

As a results of today’s stage, Stetina and Arredondo are now in fourth and fifth respectively at 4:16 back. Meanwhile, Christian Meier is in third place at 3:56 behind.

The Tour de San Luís continues tomorrow with the 175 kilometer stage from Tilisarao to Juana Koslay. The stage features the Cat. 3 Alto Paso Grande early on – following by a rolling course. 

Top 25 Finishers

1 Julian David Arredondo Moreno (Col) Trek Factory Racing 4:13:21   2 Peter Stetina (USA) BMC Racing Team     3 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:03   4 Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Col) BMC Racing Team     5 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:05   6 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Trek Factory Racing     7 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Orica Greenedge     8 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale 0:00:08   9 Miguel Angel Rubiano (Col) Team Colombia     10 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Bretagne – Seche Environnement     11 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin Sharp     12 Enzo Moyano (Arg) San Luis Somos Todos 0:00:11   13 Lucas Euser (USA) Team Unitedhealthcare     14 Isaac Bolivar (Col) Team Unitedhealthcare     15 Phillip Gaimon (USA) Garmin Sharp 0:00:19   16 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana Pro Team     17 Christian Meier (Can) Orica Greenedge 0:00:23   18 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica Greenedge 0:00:31   19 Robert Squire (USA) Jamis-Hagens Berman     20 Florian Guillou (Fra) Bretagne – Seche Environnement     21 Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre-Merida 0:00:34   22 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:00:39   23 Dominik Nerz (Ger) BMC Racing Team     24 Gianfranco Zilioli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:00:44 25