Sacha Modolo (Lampre-Merida) was the big loser in yesterday's opening stage of the Tour de San Luis as his win in the bunch sprint was only good enough for 8th after the original breakaway and their chasers managed to stay away to the finish. The Italian regretted the lost opportunity and said that the heat played a role in the outcome.

Last year Sacha Modolo started his season very strongly when he won a stage of the Tour de San Luis and even led the race for a day. For the 2014 season, he has changed teams, leaving Bardiani and now riding in Lampre-Merida colours, but he was still intent on kicking off his season in the same way.

The first stage of the race was expected to end in a bunch sprint and Modolo proved that he is ready right from the beginning when he was the first rider from the peloton to cross the line. Unfortunately, 7 riders had escaped earlier in the stage and they stayed away to the finish, wit Philip Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp) taking the win.

Modolo beat Kenny Dehaes (Lotto Belisol) and Manuel Belletti (Androni) in the sprint for the minor placing and regretted the lost opportunity.

"There are many sprinters in the Tour de San Luis and they all have a great desire to open the season with a great result but today the break was successful," he said. At first, the attack from the five escapees appeared to be destined to getting caught but due to some hesitation in taking the initiative in the bunch and the strong heat, they built an advantage of 12 minutes. At that point, the group understood that the opportunity had been destroyed.

"I regret how things panned out because I felt good and I was motivated to try to do a good race."

Modolo will now have to bide his time until Wednesday's stage whose uphill sprint could suit the fast Italian well. In the meantime, the team's GC rider Jose Serpa will try to excel in today's summit finish on the Mirador del Potrero climb.