Meier now third in Tour de San Luis

The Tour de San Luis’ first summit finish on Tuesday’s stage two brought out the climbing prowess of the Colombians in the Argentinean race and vaulted Canada’s Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEdge) from seventh to third on GC. Trek’s Julian Arrendondo (Colombia) rewarded his new bosses’ faith in him by edging out Peter Stetina (USA/BMC) for the victory atop the Mirador del Potrero, while his compatriots Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Darwin Atapuma (BMC) scrapped for third, with Quintana edging out Atapuma.

Stage one winner Phillip Gaimon (USA/Garmin-Sharp) came in nineteen seconds in arrears of Arrendondo, but enjoyed such a large winning gap from stage one that he’s 1:47 ahead of second place Marc de Maar (Curacao/UnitedHealthcare) and 3:56 up on Meier on GC. All three were escapees on the first stage.

Meier fought hard to place 17th on the Category One climb, 23 seconds back of Arrendondo.

It will be difficult task for Meier to hang onto a podium spot with five stages left, two of which are summit finishes on Category One mountains. He has Arrendondo and Stetina 20 seconds behind him, with Quintana and Atapuma poised 23 seconds back. Meier might be able to take time from the small climbers on Friday’s 19-km time trial.

Wednesday’s bumpy 175.8-km route from Tilisarao to Juana Kolslay might be one for the sprinters if they can make it up a gradual 5-km rise before the lead in to the finish.