Nairo Quintana wins Tour de San Luis; Sacha Modolo takes finale
Modolo pips Sagan in the stage-7 sprint as Quintana wraps up the final overall title
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Nairo Quintana (Movistar) collected the final leader’s jersey on Sunday as Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) won the last stage of the Tour de San Luis.
Modolo sprinted to victory in the 148km seventh stage from San Luis to Terrazas del Portezuelo ahead of Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Maximiliano Richeze (Lampre).
The stage winner credited his team — and a too-early push for the line by Cannondale — for his success in the finale.
“Last year, I won with a smaller team; this year, with a big one,” said Modolo. “It makes a lot of difference! I could feel a deep experience. [Filippo] Pozzato just told me, ‘Keep my wheel and take it easy.’ I saw that the Cannondale lead-out was too early in action. I waited for the last moment. Patience was the key.”
Quintana, who finished San Luis with a comfortable 43-second margin over runner-up Philip Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp) and more than two minutes over third-placed Sergio Godoy (San Luis Somos Todos), called his overall title “an important win when it comes to motivation for the rest of the year.”
“I had a bad day on the opening one with that pain in my stomach, but fortunately, I could get over the day and I recovered from that afterward,” he said. I must thank everyone at the team, because they believed in me from the very first day and protected me all the way to the end of the race.”
Quintana said the remainder of his schedule had yet to be determined.
“It will pretty much depend on if we ride the Giro or the Tour,” he said.