Tour de San Luis 2014 - Stage 3

The Tour de San Luis continued with stage three today, and it was perhaps the race's toughest weather day so far. Not only were the temperatures skyrocketing, hitting 45 degrees at one point, but there were also crosswinds buffeting the race, erasing the day's breakaway more than fifty kilometres away from the finish line. 

The strong winds didn't help the peloton though, as the race split into echelons. Race leader Phillip Gaimon had a momentary scare after being left behind by the front group, but some quality work from Garmin domestique Ben King pulled the leader back to the front in the difficult conditions. King also aided Tom Danielson after he suffered a puncture.

The race came together for a sprint finish, but it was such a difficult race that British champion Mark Cavendish decided to lead out his Belgian teammate Tom Boonen. Lampre-Merida had initially started the sprint but faded quickly, Boonen came off Cavendish's wheel but couldn't keep up the pace, with Trek Factory Racing's Giacomo Nizzolo and Movistar's Francisco Ventoso coming past the big Belgian.

Nizzolo pulled off an impressive win, proving Omega Pharma-Quickstep might have gone with the wrong option supporting Boonen, but perhaps it was an on-the-road decision. Phillip Gaimon retained the race lead, and although he was not tipped as a pre-race favourite he had a big margin to defend going into the rest of the race.

After the stage he stated; "It's been a great experience so far. I hope to keep it up. It was long, hot, windy but my team rode well." Gaimon must be surprised how much an ambitious breakaway on stage one has taken him thusfar, he really is the man on the conscience of the cycling world at the moment.

Stage four of the Tour de San Luis is another summit finish to Cerro El Amago. Expect the big names of the race such as Quintana to come to the fore in order to take some glory home from Argentina. The South American's won't let it go easy though. Join us again tomorrow for the full update.