Antoine Duchesne in breakaway of Tour de San Luis’ Stage 6, Diaz retains lead

A day after Canadian Hugo Houle (Ag2r) placed third in the Stage 5 time trial, his compatriot Antoine Duchesne (Europcar) was on display in the breakaway of Saturday’s Tour de San Luis’ final mountain stage. Race leader Daniel Diaz (Argentina/Funvic Brasilinvest-São José dos Campos) came third behind his Brazilian teammate Kleber Ramos to keep on top of the GC with one stage remaining. Funvic Brasilinvest has now won three stages.

Duchesne was in a six-man escape that formed soon after the departure from Achiras. Colombian breakmate Juan Arango lit out on his own on the Cat. 3 that led to the final mountain, Filo Sierras Comechingones. However, it was Italian Marco Canola (UnitedHealthcare) who was the final fugitive brought to heel with 9-km remaining.

Third-place Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar) forced the pace to splinter the group, but it was Ramos who took over to lead Diaz up the climb. Rodolfo Torres (Colombia), the second-place rider, tried to escape from the streamlined bunch, as did Quintana with a kilometre to go. It was Torres who wrestled back four-seconds from Diaz, who now has a buffer of 1:05, with Quintana falling farther behind the man in the orange leader’s jersey.

Duchesne’s efforts in the escape cost him on the climb, so he placed 118th while Houle was 65th. Duchesne sits in the 100th place on GC and Houle is 63rd.

Sunday’s final stage features three circuits around San Luis, each containing a Cat. 3 ascent. Diaz
should be able to hold off any challenges to win his second Tour de San Luis.