Philip Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp) got his professional career off to the best possible start when he became a surprise winner of the flat opening stage of the Tour de San Luis in Argentina. Having made it into the day's long breakaway, the American avoided a crash in a roundabout that took out half of his rivals and finally rode away from Emiliano Contreras (Argentina) to take the win and become the first leader of the race.

All was set for a big showdown between the likes of Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Peter Sagan (Cannondale) and Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Sharp) in a big bunch sprint at the end of the first stage of the Tour de San Luis but instead of the expected high-speed battle, the numerous crowds witnessed a surprise win from an American in his first professional race. Having turned pro with Garmin-Sharp at 27 years of age, Philip Gaimon won right from the beginning and became the first leader of the biggest race on South American soil.

Gaimon had made it into the day's 5-rider breakaway with Leandro Messineo (San Luis), Emiliano Contreras (Argentina), Marc De Maar (Unitedhealthcare) and Julian Gaday (Buenos Aires) and as the peloton battled a stomach virus, strong wind, and hot conditions, they were allowed to build an advantage that peaked at more than 11 minutes. Whether it was the weather conditions, a big crash, or the many riders suffering from stomach problems that caused the non-reaction remains a question but the peloton showed no sign of initiating any kind of pursuit.

Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEDGE), Adrian Alvarado (Chile) and Cristian Da Rosa (Club Dataro) decided to set off in pursuit but never made the junction and as the reaction from the peloton came way too late, it became apparent that the winner would be one of the escapees. Having secured the lead in the sprints competition, Gaday fell off the pace and when Messineo and De Maar crashed in a roundabout, only Gaimon and Contreras were left to battle for the win.

Gaimon emerged as the strongest in the duo and he had plenty of time to celebrate as he rolled across the line in solo fashion after launching a late attack. The race not only gave him the win but also allowed him to become the first leader of the race.

While the remainders of the original breakaway and the three chasers rolled across the line with deficits between 12 seconds and 3.52, Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) beat Kenny Dehaes (Lotto Belisol) and Manuel Belletti (Ag2r) in a sprint to lead the peloton across the line with a deficit of 4.35.

Gaimon faces his first big test tomorrow when the second stage offers the first summit finish in the race. The 170,6km stage is mostly flat but ends with the 4,8km climb to Mirador del Potrero which has an average gradient of 6,7%. As a former runner-up of the Tour of the Gila, Gaimon has proved his ability to climb and the race favourites may now find themselves with a big job of taking back the time lost in today's flat stage.

A flat stage

The 2014 Tour de San Luis kicked off with a 166,2km stage from San Luis to Villa Mercedes. The riders faced an easy start to the race, with a rolling start and one category 3 climb preceding a long gradual downhill for more than 100km that led to the finish. The easy end to the stage and the presence of several sprinters meant that a bunch kick was the widely tipped outcome of the stage.

The stage took place in sweltering hot conditions and the peloton was happy to allow a seemingly non-dangerous breakaway to go up the road shortly after the take-off. Leandro Messineo (San Luis), Emiliano Contreras (Argentina), Philip Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp), Marc De Maar (Unitedhealthcare) and Julian Gaday (Buenos Aires) managed to escape the clutches of the main group and after 25 minutes of racing, they already had established an advantage of 3.10.

Petacchi abandons

A virus was running through the peloton and this had left many riders suffering from stomach problems. Early in the stage, the biggest favourite of the day Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) suffered a blow when his lead-out man Alessandro Petacchi was forced to abandon. Later one of the big favourites for the overall Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and his fellow Tour de France podium finisher Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) were back at the medical car to receive treatment for the same health issue but both managed to get safely through the stage.

Gaday won the first intermediate sprint at the 50km mark and 5km further up the road, Gaimon beat De Maar and Gaday in the only KOM sprint of the day, thus becoming the first wearer of the mountains jersey in the Argentinean race. Meanwhile, the peloton showed no interest in chasing the breakaway and after 2 hours of racing, the gap had grown to a massive 10.40.

Three riders set off in pursuit

While Rodriguez was safely being guided back to the peloton after a rear wheel puncture, the peloton stabilized the gap for a while. As no one showed any real interest in initiating a pursuit, Christian Meier (Orica-GreenEDGE), Adrian Alvarado (Chile) and Cristian Da Rosa (Club Dataro) decided to set off in pursuit.

The three chasers managed to reduce their deficit to 7.30 while the peloton now had a massive 11.38 to make up. Meanwhile, a strong wind had started to blow and this was the reason for a big crash in the peloton that brought down more than 30 riders.

Gaday is dropped

Contreras won the final intermediate sprint 60,9km from the finish but Gaday managed to finish 2nd ahead of De Maar to become the first leader of the sprints classification. However, he has spent too much energy in the process and a few kilometres further up the road, he was dropped from the breakaway.

With 25km to go, the peloton had still not shown any kind of reaction and as the gap was still 9.15, it was clear that the winner would come from the breakaway. At one point, the chasers  had the gap down to 3.53 but as they had again lost some time and was now 4.20 behind, their chances of making the junction appeared to be slim.

Two riders crash

With less than 20km to go, disaster struck for De Maar and Messineo who crashed out of the breakaway in a roundabout. The duo was quickly back on their bikes and for some time, they chased hard 25 second behind Contreras and Gaimon.

However, there was no coming back for the unlucky ones and the race was decided between the two remaining leaders. Inside the final few kilometres, Gaimon made his move and as Contreras had no response, the Garmin-Sharp rider could solo across the line to start his professional career in the best possible way.

Result:

1. Philip Gaimon 4.06.54

2. Emilano Contreras +0.12

3. Marc De Maar +1.17

4. Leandro Messineo +1.26

5. Cristian Da Rosa +3.52

6. Adrian Alvarado

7. Christian Meier

8. Sacha Modolo +4.35

9. Kenny Dehaes

10. Manuel Belletti

General classification:

1. Philip Gaimon

More results to come