Flórez wins turbulent mountain stage in San Juan, Evenepoel remains leader
Friday, January 31, 2020 at 11:51 PM
Miguel Eduardo Flórez has won the fifth stage in the Vuelta a San Juan. In the drive to the Alto del Colorado, the Colombian from Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec was the first to cross the finish line. Remco Evenepoel defended his leader’s position and is usually the overall winner the day after tomorrow.
The queen stage was scheduled the day after the day of rest. In a stage covering just under 170 kilometers, the peloton rode from San Martín to the Alto del Colorado (14.4 km at 4.4%), where the finish was at 2565 meters above sea level. In the run-up to that, there were three climbs, starting with the Alto de Villicum of third category. Then the climb to Baños de Talacasto and the Alto de la Crucecita (both cat.2) came for the riders’ wheels.
Confetti at the start of the queen stage – photo: Cor Vos
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In the first ten kilometers, eight riders started the early race. With Daniel Juarez, the leader in the intermediate sprint standings was ahead. The Argentinian had joined forces with Antonio Zullo, Nelson Andrés Soto, Gerardo Atencio, Facundo Matias Cattapán, Magno Nazaret, Emiliano Contreras and Francisco Montes. Nazaret was best ranked rider in 24th place, 2:20 from leader Remco Evenepoel.
Cattapán falls off in front
The peloton initially let the leading group ride away for a maximum of four and a half minutes in the run-up to the first climb of the day, the Alto de Villicum. Even before the start of the climb, Cattapán had disappeared from the early flight and was caught by the crowd behind it. Montes came first at the top, ahead of Atencio and Soto. The latter raced Caja Rural-Seguros RGA in the previous two seasons, but took a step back to the continental circuit this winter.
With a hundred kilometers to go, the peloton had already reduced the lead of the escape to under three minutes. Montes also took the full pound on the climb to Baños de Talacasto, after which Soto, Atencio and Nazaret rode together on the spur. Montes then lowered himself to the peloton, while Zullo and Contreras made another attempt to catch up with their early flight mates. On the next climb, Atencio was the first to cross the summit.
Soto, Atencio and Nazaret worked well together and, after the Alto de la Crucecita, managed to reach the peloton again, which at the same time blew over the full width of the road and still had some peace with the lead of the three.
UAE Emirates pulls it to the side
When the platoon also crossed the Alto de la Crucecita, UAE Emirates pulled it on open roads on the side with BORA-hansgrohe, causing the platoon to suddenly be pulled on a long ribbon and even broke apart in fans. The main victim was leader Evenepoel, who, with the help of Pieter Serry and Bert Van Lerberghe, had to follow. Also Óscar Sevilla, still designated by Evenepoel as the main opponent, had been surprised.
Óscar Sevilla and Remco Evenepoel were surprised – photo: Cor Vos
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Filippo Ganna, the number two in the rankings, was in the front fan, which progressed further and further into the Evenepoel group and came ever closer to the three refugees. The early flight was canceled at 22 kilometers from the finish. Behind that Evenepoel only supported Zdeněk Štybar and also had to do the dirty work himself. Although the backlog had gone up to more than a minute, the second fan managed to catch up again.
Partly thanks to the support of Seville and the fact that BORA-hansgrohe kept his legs still at the front, Evenepoel got the front group back in sight shortly before the foot of the final climb. In the early stages of the climb, Brandon McNulty, the number five in the rankings, rode at the front together with Juan Javier Melivilo. Guillaume Martin and Miguel Eduardo Flórez managed to cross over to the leading duo, but the differences behind them were negligible.
Regrouping
And nine kilometers before the end there was a regrouping. For example, the backlog of Evenepoel and Sevilla was finally cleared away by the fans. In the final phase, the course was never really difficult with maximum ascent percentages of 6.4 percent and the length and height were the main focus. Of the top five, only the number four Nelson Oliveira was missing from the front nine riders in the last three kilometers.
Eventually a small group competed for the stage victory – photo: Cor Vos
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Two and a half kilometers from the finish, Evenepoel tested the competition for the first time and one kilometer later he tried to drive away again. That second gear cost Ganna the front connection. However, the Italian speed driver was able to hook up his cart again. Eventually Miguel Eduardo Flórez would take the win with a strong drop in the last hundreds of meters of this queen stage. Óscar Sevilla became second, Brandon McNulty third.
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