Americans in the Tour de San Luis, Argentina January 23 – 29

Province of San Luis in Argentina

[updated 1/21/2012]

Timmy Duggan, Ted King, and Levi Leipheimer are scheduled to start the Tour de San Luis, a seven day stage race that begins on January 23^rd in Argentina. With climbs on every stage aside from the time trial and South American teams who will want to demonstrate their skills, this race promises to be difficult and exciting, even without what’s been described as a potential “showdown” between two riders.

Michael Rasmussen, now riding on the Continental team Christina Watches – Onfone, and Alberto Contador should race as well; their appearance together has generated dramatic comments about the two meeting in Argentina since Contador won the Tour de France in 2007 after Rasmussen got pulled from the race. Neither Rasmussen, Contador, nor the Americans competed in the race in 2011.

The race website also lists Vincenzo Nibali, Tom Boonen, Sylvain Chavanel, Rinaldo Nocentini, José Serpa and Philip Pozatto as starters. Five UCI WorldTour teams will send riders, including AG2R La Mondiale, Liquigas-Cannondale, Movistar, Omega Pharma – Quick Step, and Saxo Bank.The Professional Continental teams include UnitedHealthcare, NetApp, Farnese Vini, Caja Rural, Androni Giocattoli, and Andalucia. See below for the additional thirteen teams expected to compete.

The Tour de San Luis is part of the UCI America Tour calendar and rated 2.1. Nibali won the race in 2010; in 2011 a Chilean, Marco Arriagada, claimed first place overall. Arriagada received a recommended four year suspension from the UCI in 2011 as a result of five positive tests. The Chilean Olympic Committee was rumored to have reduced the suspension to two years effective January 2011 based on Arriagada’s appeal. However, further research after the initial date of this story confirmed Arriagada is suspended for four years.

Both the Americans and Europeans can expect twelve hours or longer of flight time to Buenos Aires followed by travel to San Luis in the province of the same name for the start of the first stage. They’ll likely experience temperatures in the high 80’s Fahrenheit or warmer; last year riders experienced 104 degrees on the last stage.  The province of San Luis lies in just about the center of Argentina. The country’s official language is Spanish, though it’s said Argentinian Spanish sounds more like Italian.

The route covers 1051km in total. The stage 4 19.5 km time trial is relatively flat and sandwiched between the two mountain top finish stages. Stage 5’s final climb averages 8.75% and features some pitches at 14 – 15%. Sprinters should have a shot to win on three or four of the stages. Cyclingnews covered the race in 2011 and will follow it in 2012 as well.

Continental Teams

Christina Watches – Onfone (Denmark)

Tavira / Prio (Portugal)

Clube Dataro de Ciclismo (Brazil)

Comcel Coldeportes (Colombia)

Additional Teams (non-UCI)

San Luis Somos Todos (Argentina)

Funvic (Brazil)

Teams to be selected from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay

Top Ten General Classification, Tour de San Luis 2011

1 Marco Arriagada (Chi) Chile 25:51:54

2 Jose Serpa (Col) Androni-Giocattoli 0:00:38

3 Josue Moyano (Arg) Argentina 0:01:49

4 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale 0:01:50

5 Miguel Angel Rubiano (Col) D’Angelo & Antenucci 0:02:42

6 Jorge Giacinti (Arg) Argentina 0:04:36

7 Gerardo Fernandez (Arg) Argentina 0:04:56

8 Antonio Piedra (Spa) Andalucia-Caja Granada 0:05:24

9 Camilo Gomez (Col) Colombia 0:05:38

10 Luis Mansilla (Chi) Chile 0:05:50