Rodriguez triumphs at Carolina

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Androni-Giocattoli enjoyed second stage win at the Tour de San Luis as Jackson Rodriguez won a two-man sprint to the line ahead of late-race breakaway companion and stage two winner Rafael Valls (Footon-Servetto) on Friday. Alexander Kolobnev (Katusha) surprised the crowds when he caught up to the chase group of well-known climbers and attacked them to take the third spot on the podium.

"I’m very happy with this victory," Rodriguez said afterwards. "I am more happy with the way my teammates rode today on the climb. It was a great finish for us and for our team. The Spanish rider [Rafael Valls] attacked and I got on his wheel. I didn’t have to work because my teammate Jose Serpa is close in the overall and he was behind us. So the stage ended well."

Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Doimo) displayed an impeccable performance by warding off seven GC-hungry competitors on the final climb to successfully maintain his overall lead in the race. Jose Serpa (Androni-Giocattoli) held onto his second place, 30 seconds behind the Italian leader. Rafael Valls, who sits one 1:09 behind the leader, jumped ahead from ninth place into third place following his stage five podium performance.

"The last climb was very, very hard and the rhythm was very fast because of Michael Rasmussen and my teammates from Liquigas-Doimo [Valerio] Agnoli and [Robert] Kiserlovski," Nibali said. "It was a tremendous stage because of the heat. I’m happy that everything worked out well."

Androni-Giocattoli dominates the climb to La Carolina

Luis Mate (Androni-Giocattoli) made the first move at the base of the steepest part of the final ascent up to La Carolina. His efforts were rewarded with a near ten-second lead over a chase group of approximately 20 riders.

Michael Rasmussen (Miche Silver Cross) led the chase in an attempt to reduce the large group to a small, more manageable number. Seven riders remained in the hunt for the escapee. Those riders included Mate’s teammates Jose Serpa and Jackson Rodriguez along with race leader Vincenzo Nibali, stage two winner Rafael Valls, Rasmussen, Ignacio Pereyra (Team Argentina) and Arnols Alcolae (Team Cuba).

"Before today I was sitting twelfth in the overall and for the moment I still don’t have the change of rhythm that some of the other riders have," Rasmussen said. "I wanted to ride a hard pace to try to get rid of some of the guys that are right ahead of me. I think I got rid of a few of them. Some came back through the cars like [Santiago] Botero, but I’m happy with the day today."

Odds-on favorites to win the stage had been Androni-Giocattoli, who had a numerical advantage with three riders in front and another, Carlos Ochoa, following a close distance behind. "First I want to say congratulations to the entire team because they executed the tactics perfectly," said the team's Directeur Sportif Gianni Savio. "Our first goal was to have as many riders as we could stay in the front group because it is important to us to keep our team in the lead of the overall team classification. After that, we wanted to think about the individual classification."

Serpa started the stage 30-seconds behind Nibali and the pair stayed glued to one another for the duration of the climb. With Mate slightly up the road, Valls attacked in an attempt to bridge across to the sole leader bringing Nibali and Serpa with him. During that attack, Rasmussen was the first to fall off pace followed by Pereyra, Rodriguez and Alcolea.

Valls, Nibali and Serpa caught Mate several hundred metres from the top of the climb and despite a fast tempo Mate was able to grit his teeth and hang on to the back. The front group of four riders slowed down to watch one another and anticipate who would make the next move. Nibali signalled to the Androni-Giocattoli teammates Serpa and Mate to help work, however, the slow speed allowed Rodriguez to catch back up.

As soon as Rodriguez rejoined, Mate launched several more attacks until he got away with Valls sitting tight on his wheel. Nibali was forced to chase with Serpa and Rodriguez in tow. Valls and Mate barrelled over the crest of the climb and crashed into a photographer’s motorcycle on the steep descent before the first switchback. The pair picked themselves up and joined Nibali, Serpa and Rodriguez who rode cautiously past the accident.

"We were coming fast. There were cars and the motos and we just crashed," Valls said. "I was thinking of the general and the stage win. There were three Diquigiovani [Androni-Giocattoli] riders and I got second."

At the bottom of the descent, the original group of climbers reunited with Valls, Nibali, Serpa, Rodriguez, Mate, Rasmussen and Pereyra. With 10 kilometres to go, Santiago Botero appeared weaving through race traffic and caught back onto the rear of the lead group. Not too far back in the distance followed another danger-man Alexander Kolobnev.

"I knew that climb because I did it last week," Kolobnev said. "I tried to stay with the front group on the climb or just not to drop too far back. Thank God I had Santiago Botero with me because it was hard to find a good rhythm on the climb. We were together over the climb for about fifteen kilometres. As soon as I could catch the lead group, I started to attack to try to catch the two guys before the finish. I lost by just a moment because I had good legs to be in a sprint. I think I was coming faster than they did the sprint. But I am very happy with this result at the beginning of the season."

Valls made one last ditch effort to separate himself from the small group with Rodriguez on his wheel. In a chaotic finish, the Spaniard led through the last kilometres, around the twists and turns of the local roads and through the traffic of official cars and motorcycles. However, despite his efforts Rodriguez sprinted passed him at the line. Kolobnev passed through the chase group and captured third place.

"I told Rodriguez to pay close attention to Valls and to remember how fast he was during stage two when he won," Savio said. "Valls is a very good rider. But Rodriguez did great work and he paid attention."

Early breakaway succeeds to final climb

Some 130 riders line up in typical Argentina summer heat set to embark on stage five of the Tour de San Luis. The 156-kilometre ‘queen’ stage started in San Luis and took the riders on a predominantly flat route toward the daunting and final 40-kilometre climb up to La Carolina, the second of three mountaintop finish of the stage race.

Race leader and stage four time trial winner, Vincenzo Nibali cruised in the driver’s seat behind his protective ProTour team Liquigas-Doimo during the first quarter of the race. Miche Silver Cross, Nutrixxion-Sparkasse and Funvic-Pindamonhangaba were the three most aggressive teams during the opening kilometres of the race. Several unsuccessful breakaways were reeled in before the start of the lengthy trek along Autopista 146.

Some confusion as to what side of the Autopista 146 to ride on caused the peloton to split several times on either side of the road upon exiting the multiple roundabouts. Once all back together, a breakaway of three riders escaped Liquigas-Doimo’s grip on the peloton. The trio included Argentina’s former World Madison Champion Walter Perez (Team Argentina), Flavio Cardoso (Funvic-Pindamonhangaba) and Philipp Mamos (Nutrixxion-Sparkasse).

The trio gained approximately one minute at the 20-kilometre mark, an advantage that increased to four minutes by the time they'd reached the 50-kilometre point of the race.

Walter Perez used his years of track experience to maintain his position in third to last wheel approaching the first intermediate sprint in the town of Toro Negro. The Argentine times his sprint perfectly to capture full points ahead of Cardoso and Mamos.

Some 40 kilometres later the trio turned right onto a small road at the foothills of the mountains. They approached the second and final intermediate sprint in the town of San Francisco del Monte de Oro, where Perez easily won a second time.

Following the sprint, the breakaway rode into a mountainous backdrop of the Andes Mountain Range, where they met the base of the 40-kilometre ascent to the finish line. They held onto a six minute margin up until that point, a time that was precisely monitored by the leading team Liquigas-Doimo.

On the climb, Mamos attacked his breakaway companions as they approached the first King of the Mountain line located 130-kilometres into the stage.

Two kilometres later, the peloton shattered into pieces as some of the world’s best climbers set a relentless pace up the steep mountain switchbacks. All breakaway riders were caught and passed by the front group of approximately ten climbers who were vying to move forward in the overall classification.

There was no change top spot in the overall classification. Italian Vincenzo Nibali will wear the orange leader’s jersey in tomorrow’s stage six. The 150-kilometre stage will start with an initial 20-kilometre climb to the top of Cantana. The peloton will then continue toward the final climb of the day, a 25-kilometre ascent that passes through the small town of Merlo before finishing at the top of Mirador Del Sol.