Mark Cavendish was the big favourite to win the first stage of the Tour de San Luis but the Manxman came away empty-handed when the early breakaway stayed away to the finish. His Omega Pharma-Quick Step team had originally tried to chase it down but when they received no help, they decided to call it a day.

Last year Mark Cavendish started his season with a bang when he won the opening stage of the Tour de San Luis. This year the Manx Missile planned to do so again when he lined up as part of a very strong Omega Pharma-Quick Step team in Argentina.

However, the day didn't pan out as he had hoped for. Already from the beginning, things developed in a bad way as Alessandro Petacchi had to abandon the race due to an intestinal virus.

With teams being composed of just 6 riders, this left the Belgian squad with very little horsepower to reel in the early break. As Cavendish was the big favourite, the team received no help when they started to chase and this prompted the riders to stop their effort.

"The break was gone after only 2kms, so it was actually a perfect day for a field sprint," Omega Pharma-QuickStep's Tom Boonen told Cyclingnews. "We started controlling after 10km to keep the distance acceptable and then we were riding by ourselves until 70kms into the race. There was not anyone coming or eager to help.

"We just said 'stop' and it took ages for somebody to start riding again. We started helping again but it was way too late. The temperature today and the small teams may have cost the sprinters a sprint today."

Cavendish will now have to bide his time in today's summit finish before getting a new opportunity on Wednesday. Instead, the team will shift its focus to Gianluca Brambilla who may show his cards on the Mirador del Potrero climb in today's finish.

Philip Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp) won the opening stage while Cavendish was only 11th in the sprint for 8th won by Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida).