Tour de San Luis 2014 - Stage 2

The Tour de San Luis continued today with a 170 kilometre stage from La Punta to the Mirador de Protrero de los Funes. It was a tough stage with a final climb of 4.8 kilometres. Phillip Gaimon of Garmin-Sharp was the overnight leader, but it would be a difficult day to keep his lead. 

The day's breakaway consisted of four Argentinians and one Chilean; Sebastian Tolosa of Buenos Aires Provincia, Jorge Giacinti and Cristian Martinez of San Luis Somos Todos, Jonathan Guzman of Chile and Sebastian Trillini of Argentina. The break were never really in any danger of winning the stage, this was always going to be a day for the major contenders, such as Joaquim Rodriguez and Alberto Contador.

The day wasn't going to be completely that of the contenders however, as Peter Stetina (BMC Racing Team) and Julian Arredondo (Trek Factory Racing) escaped on the final climb of the day. Nairo Quintana, among others, unsuccessfully attempted a counter-attack, but it was up to the two men to fight it out for the victory. 

It was the young Colombian Arredondo who outsprinted his American breakaway companion to win the stage and take what will be the biggest win of his career so far. Quintana of Movistar followed three seconds after Arredondo and Stetina along with compatriot John Darwin Atapuma, then came the trio of Domenico Pozzovivo, Haimar Zubeldia and Ivan Santaromita, the Italian champion on the Australian Orica-GreenEDGE outfit.

It is unsurprising that the final climb of the day was the decisive moment of the stage, but the winner of the day will surprise a few members of the cycling world. Arredondo had been signed by Trek after being touted as yet another talented young Colombian, but few would've expected his impact on the team to come quite so quick.

We have had two stage winners in the Tour de San Luis that are new signings for their teams, and men who make the future of cycling very promising. Phillip Gaimon managed to finish with the group that finished eight seconds down on Arredondo, meaning he is still the leader of the race going into stage three.