Having won a few stages in the Vuelta al Tachira, Italian sprint talent Jakub Mareczko was looking forward to test himself against Mark Cavendish in the Tour de San Luis. In the final stage, he showed his potential by finishing third.

"I wanted to do well at all costs," he told Tuttobiciweb. "To be on the podium with a champion like Cavendish is the maximum. [Liam] Bertazzo gave me a perfect lead-out and then I made my sprint but I was missing an extra gear on the downhill.

"My next race is in Malaysia [the Tour de Langkawi] where I want to be among the protagonists in the sprints."

Mareczko is part of the Southeast team but rode the Argentinean race with the Italian national team. Alessandro Petacchi has been signed to develop him into a future top sprinter.