Hugo Houle and Antoine Duchesne to start season in Argentina

A largely downhill road stage begins the ninth edition of the Tour de San Luis in Argentina on Sunday, with six ProTour teams set to contest this more relaxed alternative to the WorldTour Tour Down Under in Australia as a season opener. The seven-stage UCI 2.1-rated race nonetheless has a tough course, including four uphill or summit finishes.

Ag2r’s Canadian Hugo Houle is ready to begin his third season with the ProTour squad. His teammate Carlos Betancur (Colombia) will be desperate to have a better 2015 than 2014. Another Canadian, Antoine Duchesne, comes to the Southern Hemisphere with his Europcar team, which is back at Pro Continental status.

Nairo Quintana (Movistar/Colombia), last year’s champion, went on to win the Giro d’Italia. He will be building towards his Tour de France goal and looking to recapture the orange jersey. Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) begins his season-long parade of the rainbow jersey in San Luis, and the cycling world will gets its first look at 2010 Critérium Dauphiné winner Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) with his new team, American Pro Continental outfit UnitedHeathcare.

The race’s most challenging days will come on Stages 4 and 6, which both end on Cat. 1 ascents, and Stage 5’s 17.6-km individual time trial. The final stage on January 25 features three circuits around the city of San Luis, each containing a Cat. 3 climb.

The women’s event, the Tour Femenino de San Luis, started Sunday with Brit Hannah Barnes (UnitedHealthcare) taking the day’s field sprint and top Canadian Lex Albrecht (Optum) finishing in the sprint pack. It’s the second year of the women’s race, with Barnes’ teammate Alison Powers (USA) the inaugural champion.