Xavier Tondo wins stage 5, Jacques-Maynes and Amaran still in top 10 GC

Posted on 23. Jan, 2009 by lyne in race

With temperature hovering in the 90s (30s C) and sometimes crossing the 100 line, Xavier Tondo (Andalucía Cajasur) won the the Queen stage of the Tour de San Luis in Argentina crossing the line 2 seconds ahead of Jorge Giacinti (Argentina A).   Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) and Luis Amaran (Colavita/Sutter Home)  are still in  the top 10 of the general classification with two stages to go.

Bad news for Bissell as Tom Zirbel did not start the stage, and Joao Correia abandoned after the second climb of the day. Sprinter Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Colavita/Sutter Home) could not keep up with the climbers and dropped down to thirty-first spot in GC, but he still leads the sprint classification.

In the final kilometer to the top of Mirador del Sol, Tondo outmaneuvered  a select group of 40 riders that included Liquigas duo of Ivan Basso and Vincenzo Nibali, GC leader  Alfredo Lucero (Argentina B), David de la Fuente (Fuji-Servetto), Jacques-Maynes and Amaran to claim his victory.

By finishing ninth at 27 seconds back, Lucero managed to maintain his lead in the general classification reduced to  1:05 over Giacinti. Basso moved up in the standings to fifth place at 2:24 down.

Tondo now leads the mountain classification with 17 points, three more than second placed L. Haedo.

The penultimate stage is  a flat  75 mile (121 km) starting and finishing with 3.8-mile  (6.1 km) circuits on a race track in Potrero de los Funes.

Stage Results
1. Xavier Tondo (Andalucía Cajasur) 5:115:47
2. Jorge Giacinti (Argentina A) +0:02
3. José Serpa (Diquigiovanni)  +0:06

General Classification
1. Alfredo Lucero (Argentina A) 17:56:53
2. Jorge Giacinti (Argentina A) 01:05
3. José Serpa (Diquigiovanni) 01:37
4. Andrey Grivko (ISD) 02:22
5. Ivan Basso (Liquigas) 02:24
7. Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell) 02:59
9. Luis Amaran (Colavita/Sutter Home) 03:26

KOM Classification
1. Xavier Tondo (Andalucía Cajasur) 17 points
2. Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Colavita/Sutter Home) 11

Sprints Classification
1. Lucas Sebastian Haedo (Colavita/Sutter Home) 11 points
2. Ben Jacques-Maynes (Bissell)  7

More photos from Tour de San Luis 
Complete Results here
Photos courtesy of Tour de San Luis

Tags: tour de san luis