A stage from San Luis to Terrazas del Portezuelo closed the Tour de San Luis yesterday. On the sloping finish Sacha Modolo sprinted to the victory. Tosh Van der Sande became eighth.
Vanendert abandoned
This Argentine stage race didn’t start well for Lotto Belisol with a crash of Sander Armée and Jelle Vanendert on day one. Armée only lost time and in the penultimate stage he set a nice performance by becoming 15th in the mountain stage. Vanendert hit his elbow in the crash. He abandoned the race in the last stage because of the hinder he has from the crash.
Comeback Van den Broeck
The Tour de San Luis was the long expected comeback of Jurgen Van den Broeck. In the time trial of 19,2 kilometers on Friday VDB finished on the 13th place. He was 1’10” longer on the course than winner Adriano Malori. In the mountain stage to Mirador del Sol on Saturday Van den Broeck became 24th at 1’30” of Julian Arredondo. The Colombian had also won the second stage, with finish at Mirador del Potrero, where Van den Broeck was 22nd at 39″. In the GC the man from Morkhoven is 24th.
Mario Aerts, sports director: “Jelle Vanendert has quit in the beginning of the stage. Because he hit his elbow in the crash, it’s hard for him to pull up after a corner. A day after the crash there was much improvement, otherwise he wouldn’t have started, but since then there is few evolution. Conditionally there isn’t a problem, it’s only the elbow that has to be cured now.”
“The Colombians were very strong here, they are used to the extremely hot temperatures. That fifteenth place of Sander Armée was a nice result. His legs felt good and he wanted to show that. The time trial of Van den Broeck was good. He still has work to do to come back on his level, but the first signs are encouraging.”