Thursday 22 January 2015 02:45, UK
Fernando Gaviria comfortably defeated Mark Cavendish for the second time in three days to claim victory on stage three of the Tour de San Luis in Argentina.
In an almost exact repeat of stage one, the 20-year-old Colombian surprised the 25-time Tour de France stage winner by launching his sprint early and once again Cavendish had no response, eventually crossing the line several bike lengths down in second place.
The Manxman could have no complaints with his Etixx – Quick-Step team, who delivered him to the finishing straight in a good position, just off the front of the field.
It was another significant scalp for Gaviria, who is a former junior world champion on the track but had not registered any major international wins prior to the Tour de San Luis other than a victory at the Pan-American road race last year.
Cavendish said afterwards: "The Colombians went super, super-fast in the last few hundred metres. I think we just hesitated a bit. I had too much ground to make up.
"Gaviria deserved the win again today. He's a track rider, so he's very fast and he can go super-long. Being able to sprint from a distance like that is a sign of a track rider. It's very impressive."
Despite the defeat, Cavendish was not disspirited by the result and is still hopeful of getting something out of the seven-day race.
He added: "I'm happy with my form and the team is riding well overall. I would still like to try and win a stage here at the Tour de San Luis and it would be nice to get the first victory of the year out of the way."
Sacha Modolo finished third on the day, while Daniel Diaz crossed the line in the peloton to retain his six-second lead over Rodolfo Torres at the top of the general classification.
Thursday's fourth stage takes the riders back into the mountains for a summit finish at Alto el Amago.
Stage three result
1 Fernando Gaviria (Col) Colombia, 3:48:44
2 Mark Cavendish (GB) Etixx – Quikc-Step, same time
3 Sacha Modolo (Ita) Lampre-Merida, st
4 Yauheni Hutarovich (Blr) Bretagne-Seche Environnement, st
5 Eduard Grosu (Rom) Nippo-Vini Fantini, st
6 Nicolas Marini (Ita) Nippo-Vini Fantini, st
7 Marco Canola (Ita) UnitedHealthcare, st
8 Julian Gaday (Arg) Buenos Aires Provincia, st
9 Emanuel Guevara (Arg) San Luis Somos Todos, st
10 Diego Milan (DR) Inteja-MMR Dominican Cycling Team, st
General classification
1 Daniel Diaz (Arg) Funvic Brasilinvest-San Jose dos Campos, 13:02:23
2 Rodolfo Torres (Col) Team Colombia, +6secs
3 Kleber da Silva (Bra) Funvic Brasilinvest-San Jose dos Campos, +24
4 Alex Diniz (Bra) Funvic Brasilinvest-San Jose dos Campos, st
5 Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Bretagne-Seche Environnement, +27
6 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Katusha, same time
7 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, st
8 Sergio Godoy (Arg) San Luis Somos Todos, +29
9 Daniel Jaramillo (Col) Jamis-Hagens Berman, +36
10 Rodrigo Contreras (Col) Colombia, st
