Taylor Phinney (BMC) had made it clear that he wanted to go for the win in yesterday's time trial in the Tour de San Luis but despite putting in a solid ride he was beaten into 2nd by Adriano Malori (Movistar) who was 3 seconds faster than his American rival. Being disappointed with the outcome, Phinney regretted his decision not to use bigger gears for the flat and fast course in San Luis.

Led by Taylor Phinney's runner-up performance, the BMC Racing Team finished three riders in the top 10 of Friday's individual time trial at the Tour de San Luis. Larry Warbasse was fourth and Manuel Quinziato was sixth, while teammate Peter Stetina is now the BMC Racing Team's best-placed rider, in sixth overall.

Phinney finished the out-and-back 19.2-kilometer individual time trial three seconds back of stage winner Adriano Malori (Movistar Team), who finished in a time of 22:11.

"Personally I am quite disappointed," he said. "I definitely wanted to win today. I made a tactical error on my part by not asking the mechanics to a 55 or 56 tooth chainring on my front set. When I rode it this morning I thought it wouldn't be necessary but 75, 78k an hour going down on that tailwind section I just had to stop pedalling a couple of times.

Phinney said he did not want to make excuses, adding that he knew Malori – a past Italian national time trial champion – would be strong.

"I knew that Malori would be quite strong," he said. "I knew with him going to Movistar he'd be on his TT bike a bit more and he's been a great time trialist for a couple of years now. Hats off to him.

"My power was there and my pacing strategy was good, but not having those extra gears on the way down cost me a couple seconds," he added. "Whether that cost me the win, we will never know."

Jorge Giacinti (San Luis Somos Todos) finished third, 29 seconds back.

Atapuma Slips To Ninth
Stetina is 2:57 off the lead after finishing 29th, 1:47 back. Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) assumed the overall lead from Stage 1 breakaway winner Phillip Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp) by finishing 16th, 1:18 back. BMC Racing Team's Darwin Atapuma, who had been sitting fourth overall after placing third on Stage 4 and fourth on Stage 2, conceded nearly two minutes to Quintana and slid to ninth overall, 3:21 behind.

Atapuma said he had to shake off some nervousness in his first time trial on his BMC.

"Nevertheless, I had very good sensations and likely did my best time trial ever," he said. "The important thing is that I am improving day-by-day. I am very happy about the confidence the team has in me, from the riders, the director and all the staff. Everybody is doing a very good job." 

Warbasse's fourth-place finish, 48 seconds off the winning time, was his career-best, while Quniziato's sixth place result was his best result in an individual time trial since finishing fifth at the Italian national time trial championships in 2010.

Two days remain in the week-long race: a mountain-top finish at the end of a 184.4-km race on Saturday and Sunday's undulating 148.1-km stage. Atapuma said he still has some fight left in his legs.

"Tomorrow I think the stage will be decisive for the general classification," he said. "It is my opinion that the race is not finished yet. I hope to feel good and try to win the stage."