Francisco Ventoso finished second, while Tom Boonen was third – followed by Tyler Farrar in fourth.
Phil Gaimon successfully defended his overall lead by a margin of 1:47 over second-place Marc de Maar.
“It’s been a great experience so far. I hope to keep it up,” said Gaimon. “It was long, hot, windy, but my team rode well today.”
Today’s race saw a breakaway group remain out front for more than 50 kilometers. However, once they were reeled in, the race splintered from there, causing team Garmin’s Ben King to work extra hard in order to help move his teammate Gaimon up to the front.
“With the heat, it’s just really hard riding the front,” said King. “We let a good break go, and I pulled for 80K, and then we got good help from the sprinters’ teams. … It was a hard day to be a donkey.”
At one point, the peloton came back together – with several teams positioning themselves for a sprint finish.
The Lampre-Merida team was the first to open up a sprint with two of it’s riders. However, both faded just outside the final 250 meter. This in turn brought Mark Cavendish to the fore, along with his teammate Tom Boonen. However, the British rider hesitated – allowing Boonen to launch forward.
The Belgian rider could not hold the pace, however, as Nizzolo came around him to seize victory – followed by Ventoso.
The Tour de San Luís continues tomorrow with the 168 kilometer stage – from El Potrero de los Funes to Alto del Amago.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gW095LLsXs
Top 25 Finishers
1 Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 4:14:19 2 Francisco José Ventoso Alberdi (Spa) Movistar Team 3 Tom Boonen (Bel) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team 4 Tyler Farrar (USA) Garmin Sharp 5 Davide Appollonio (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 6 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale 7 Taylor Phinney (USA) BMC Racing Team 8 Juan Esteban Arango (Col) Team Colombia 9 Edwin Alcibiades Avila (Col) Team Colombia 10 Marc De Maar (AHo) Team Unitedhealthcare 11 Clement Koretzky (Fra) Bretagne – Seche Environnement 12 Anthony Delaplace (Fra) Bretagne – Seche Environnement 13 Mark Cavendish (GBr) Omega Pharma – Quick-Step Cycling Team 14 Peter Stetina (USA) BMC Racing Team 15 Fredrik Carl Wilhelm Kessiakoff (Swe) Astana Pro Team 16 Aidis Kruopis (Ltu) Orica Greenedge 17 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Astana Pro Team 18 Martijn Verschoor (Ned) Team Novo Nordisk 19 Luke Keough (USA) Team Unitedhealthcare 20 Lucas Euser (USA) Team Unitedhealthcare 21 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Orica Greenedge 22 Christian Meier (Can) Orica Greenedge 23 Eugenio Alafaci (Ita) Trek Factory Racing 24 Facundo Lezica (Arg) Argentina 25 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Bretagne – Seche Environnement
General classification after stage 3
1 Phillip Gaimon (USA) Garmin Sharp 12:34:53 2 Marc De Maar (AHo) Team Unitedhealthcare 0:01:47 3 Christian Meier (Can) Orica Greenedge 0:03:56 4 Peter Stetina (USA) BMC Racing Team 0:04:16 5 Julian David Arredondo Moreno (Col) Trek Factory Racing 6 Darwin Atapuma Hurtado (Col) BMC Racing Team 0:04:19 7 Nairo Alexander Quintana Rojas (Col) Movistar Team 8 Haimar Zubeldia Agirre (Spa) Trek Factory Racing 0:04:21 9 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 10 Ivan Santaromita (Ita) Orica Greenedge 11 Damiano Caruso (Ita) Cannondale 0:04:24 12 Thomas Danielson (USA) Garmin Sharp 13 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Bretagne – Seche Environnement 14 Miguel Angel Rubiano (Col) Team Colombia 15 Enzo Moyano (Arg) San Luis Somos Todos 0:04:27 16 Lucas Euser (USA) Team Unitedhealthcare 17 Isaac Bolivar (Col) Team Unitedhealthcare 18 Florian Guillou (Fra) Bretagne – Seche Environnement 0:04:47 19 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica Greenedge 20 Robert Squire (USA) Jamis-Hagens Berman 21 Winner Anacona Gomez (Col) Lampre-Merida 0:04:50 22 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto Belisol 0:04:55 23 Dominik Nerz (Ger) BMC Racing Team 24 Gianfranco Zilioli (Ita) Androni Giocattoli 0:05:00 25 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Astana Pro Team 0:05:10
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