Tour de San Luis 2015 – Stage 1 Preview

By David Hunter

The race begins with 186.8km of racing from San Luis to Villa Mercedes.

 The race usually starts with this stage, but it’s not the exact same as usual.The cat 3 climb, La Cumbre, is 4% for 3.5km. The riders then have a lovely, long downhill stretch of road before a slight kick-up near the end of the stage.

The end of the stage is nice and easy for the sprinters. We have two right hand turns, before a finishing straight of 1.3km. This gives the trains plenty of time to get ready, even if a rider is positioned poorly, heading into the corners.

The end of the race is also downhill, this makes for a very fast finish. Certainly one for the pure sprinters in the peloton.

Last year, we got a classic example of peloton poker. All teams looked towards OPQS to work all day and set up the sprint for Cavendish. They were a man down after Petacchi had to withdraw from the race and they refused to work. This gave the break too much room and they stayed away. It will be interesting to see what happens this year.

The best sprinters in the race are Cavendish, Modolo, Gatto, Reijnen, Hutarovich, McLay and Jakub Mareczko. The youngster is only 20 and has just turned pro with Southeast. His season has already started well, with 2 wins in Vuelta al Tachira. He won 13 races, in 2014, as an amateur and when I recently interviewed Petacchi, he was a name that was mentioned. In this race, he’s riding for the Italian squad and he’ll be helped by Finetto, Battaglin and Bertazzo in the final kilometres.

Obviously Cavendish and Modolo are the stand out riders. Both love starting their season in Argentina and will resume hostilities. Cavendish arrives with Golas, Kwiatkowski, Sabatini, Van Keirsbulck and Wisniowski.

Modolo has Richeze, Pozzato, Pibernik, Niemiec and Cattaneo. If anything I would say that Sacha has the better sprint train, as Richeze and Pozzato are used to these roles. Cavendish has none of his usual colleagues. Going in Cav’s favour is his work rate over the winter. He has been busy riding 6 days events and is looking lean and motivated.

Prediction Time

We should see both Lampre and Etixx – Quick Step ride for the sprint. Both teams have the riders to control the break, but Lampre will need to help out and show some willing. I would expect cooperation and a sprint finish. The long finishing straight is perfect for Cavendish and I see him taking the win, although Modolo should be delivered to second wheel by Richeze. This means that Cav will have to come round Modolo to take the win, which he will. Keep an eye out for the very quick Mareczko.

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