Fernando Gaviria wins opening stage in Vuelta a San Juan
Jan 24 2017 06:53 am CET


FERNANDO GAVIRIA RENDON
QUICK - STEP FLOORS
35 VUELTA CICLISTA A LA PROVINCIA DE SAN JUAN
Fernando Gaviria of Quick-Step Floors has won the opening stage of the Vuelta a San Juan. Italians Elia Viviani and Nicolas Marini complete the top three.
The opening stage of the Argentinean race's 35th edition was 142.5 kilometers long and took place in and around the city of San Juan.
The peloton spent most of the day chasing a breakaway of five with Leonardo Rodriguez, Franco Lopez, Ruben Ramos, Gaston Javier and Pedro Gonzalez. The escape group was later joined by another few riders but all were caught in the last kilometers and a final sprint followed.
The finale was particularly chaotic as several riders went the wrong way and had to jump barriers to get back on the official route. The troubles didn't affect the sprinters however and Gaviria did well to cross the line ahead of Viviani, who for this occasion represents the national team.
As a result, Gaviria is also the first leader of the South American 1.2 category race.
Fernandoooooooo!#VueltaSJ pic.twitter.com/C2Qg9jdQWC
— Quick-Step Cycling (@quickstepteam) January 23, 2017