Nairo Quintana struggled through the first stage of the Tour de San Luis with stomach problems but when the race hit the mountains on the second day, the Colombian was back to his best. With a strong acceleration near the end, he almost caught attackers Julian Arredondo (Trek) and Peter Stetina (BMC) and finished 3rd on the stage.

24 hours before the first mountain stage of the Tour de San Luis, there was a risk that Nairo Quintana would have to abandon his first race of the season. Suffering from gastroenteritis, he fought his way through the flat opening stage and managed to avoid losing any time to his fellow pre-race favourites.

With a summit finish on the second day, however, Quintana faced an uphill battle right from the beginning. Nonetheless, he defied expectations when he finished 3rd on the Mirador del Potrero climb.

Quintana didn't respond when Julian Arredondo (Trek) and Peter Stetina (BMC) attacked in the fierce headwind on the climb. This ended up being a costly decision as the group of favourites never saw the attackers again. However, Quintana showed his strength when he accelerated near the finish to take 3rd and close the gap to just 3 seconds.

"I had already felt better in my stomach when I woke up in the morning," he said. "I had a better night than the other day and that was the most important thing for me, so the pain would draw back. I felt well during the stage and the team was always by my side, protecting me and taking wind away as it was a massive factor today - all the heat and the route made things harder.

"The pace on the climb was really fast, and when the two at the front went away, no one would cooperate to chase them back," he said of the final action. "I saved some energy to see if any other rider would attack so we could chase them back, but it didn't happen and I could only finish my work and take 3rd in the sprint. I'm happy with the result and I hope to contest a stage win in the upcoming days."

Quintana sits now in 7th place but is still 4.19 behind overall leader Phil Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp) who proved that he is a strong climber by only losing 8 seconds to stage winner Arredondo. He knows that the overall win will be difficult to take.

"We will try to take time back on the leader, though he's shown to be strong by climbing with us and his team supported him all the way to the finish," he said.

The race continues with a stage for the sprinters where Movistar is likely to focus their attention on Francisco Ventoso.