Loddo gallops to victory in Buena Esperanza

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Alberto Loddo (Androni-Giocattoli) exceeded his team's expectations when he won the bunch sprint on stage three at the Tour de San Luis. The Italian galloped to the line ahead of his fellow countrymen Danilo Napolitano (Katusha) and stage one winner Francesco Chicchi (Liquigas).

"I want to dedicate this win to my team Androni-Giocattoli and the directeur Gianni Savio," Loddo said. "The team worked really well. But the last couple of kilometres were very chaotic, especially with the gutters that ran across the road. The actual sprint was fast with a lot of good rides. The Liquigas team did a lot of work."

There were no changes to the top three riders in the overall classification. Stage two winner Rafael Valls (Footon-Servetto) continues to lead the race with eight seconds ahead of runner-up Arnols Alcolea (Team Cuba) and 16 seconds to third-placed Jackson Rodriguez (Androni-Giocattoli).

Loddo's victory marks a full recovery from an injury to his hip last April that sidelined him from competing for most of the 2009 season. "I wasn't able to do much last year because I had an injury that caused me a lot of pain," Loddo said. "Last July I had an operation and now I feel very good. I believe this is my 25th win but it is my first win of the year."

As seen in stage one, Liquigas again flexed its muscles with a tough-to-beat lead-out for its sprinter Chicchi. The bright green entourage kicked it up a notch with 10 kilometres to the finish line. However, an arms wrestle over who would take the lead in the last two kilometres ended with Katusha on the front and its sprinter Napolitano gunning for the line. Still, Loddo found his way through the two burly sprinters and came up with the winning sprint.

"I thought I could win today," Napolitano said. "The distance was long but I'm not at my best condition and I don't have as much explosiveness yet. My team did a lot of good work today and during the last two stages as well. The sprint was not too dangerous today. The straights were very long so we all knew what to expect."

"I suffer a lot in this heat," he added. "In Italy it is only five or six degrees. I drank a lot of water but it is really hot here. The stage was really long today but it was good."

Lengthy break caught five kilometres to finish

The international peloton arrived to the start of stage three in the small town of Fraga where they met temperatures that approached 40 Celsius. Local families and school children flooded the dusty streets to catch a glimpse of the cyclists as they prepared for the start of the race. Stores opened up to offer their visitors slices of locally-made salami and bread. The event organization provided a mini concert for the fans as the riders arrived one by one to sign-in for the day's event.

Stage three's profile catered to the sprinters. It marked the longest day at 199 kilometres in total and offered two intermediate sprints. The peloton raced its way predominantly downhill toward the finishing city of Buena Esperanza.

Team Footon-Servetto assumed its rightful position at the front of the field, protective of its overall leader and stage two winner Rafael Valls. Team Argentina kicked off the stage with a series of attacks. Riders from all teams tried desperately to bridge across hoping to land themselves in the early move, however, their efforts proved counter-productive in bringing the field back together.

Andy Guptill (Jamis-Sutter Home) and Gonzalo Garrido (Team Chile) made the first significant jump of the day at the 40-kilometre mark. The pair were later joined by Edwin Avila (Team Colombia) and Mauricio Morandi (Scott-Marcondes) and the four riders gained five minutes. They were in it for the long haul.

"Five of us covered moves and a couple were being active because they were feeling good and I was just covering moves," Guptill said. "There were five of us taking turns covering moves. It just happened to be my time to come up and start covering again. I was the 'lucky' one."

The route offered the competing cyclists one road traveling southbound with a view as far as the eyes could see, passing thousands of acres of the cattle farmland that Argentina is so famous for.

Mid-race, they accumulated an advantage of more than eight minutes. The first intermediate sprint of the day was cause for excitement after the last 100 kilometres of hot, flat tarmac. Garrido jumped at the opportunity to take full points followed by Avila, Guptill and Morandi.
"It felt so good after that sprint because it was a break from riding a steady tempo," Guptill said. "It was great to sprint like that to get the legs going again.

That particular situation, with four guys in a crosswind, was the most relentless and exhausting situation to be in."

Back in the bunch, Footon-Servetto set a tempo fast enough to reduce the time margin, which helped teams with strong sprinters such as Liquigas-Doimo.

At the 135-kilometre mark, Avila pinched a tyre and took a spare wheel from neutral support. The break of three riders continued on and Avila was reabsorbed back into the peloton. Guptill, Garrido and Morandi pressed on with one less rider, and the time margin to the peloton lessened to a mere two minutes with 30 kilometres to go.

The breakaway approached the second intermediate sprint and with only three riders left everyone was awarded points. Garrido, again, was first followed by Guptill and Morandi. The sprint was undoubtedly their last big effort of the day. All three riders, covered in salt, pushed their way toward the finish line as the peloton fley by them in pursuit of the stage win.

The event's only participating US team Jamis-Sutter Home lost its sprinter Ivan Dominguez to a crash five kilometres to the finish line.

The sprint came down to a tyre's width as Italians Loddo, Napolitano and Chicchi claimed the podium places. Weimar Roldan (Team Colombia) placed fourth, followed by Edgardo Simon (Funvic) in fifth. Dominguez's teammate Anibal Borrajo filled in the gap with a sixth place finish.