Still far from his biggest goals of 2015, yet always competitive and strong, Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) claimed his first top-10 finish of the season in the opening climbers’ round of the Tour de San Luis, with the ascent towards the Mirador del Potrero after 185km starting at La Punta.

The telephone squad directed by José Luis Jaimerena, always loyal to the Colombian, took command of the group from race leader Fernando Gaviria’s Colombia national team, right from the start. A notable Jasha Sütterlin, pushing on front for several kilometers was later followed by protectors Adriano Malori and Marco Soler, the Blues controlling the original, five-man break and putting three of their riders - the Quintana brothers plus Igor Antón (11th) - in the selected group after the first slopes. However, a duo attack from Díaz (FUN) and Torres (COL) did not find response from their rivals and opened a gap that eventually grew to half a minute, the Argentinian champion winning solo as Nairo took 7th in the first big group.

Always growing form with the days coming, Quintana and his team-mates will still have their chance to shine in the two remaining mountain-top finishes on Thursday (El Amago) and Saturday (Filo Sierras Comechingones). Before that, Wednesday will bring another chance for the sprinters with no rated climbs in the 176km stage three from Concarán to Juana Koslay.

“We covered the climb really, really fast," Quintana said. "I hoped that my brother could follow the winner’s pace and had told him to stay focused on Díaz’s wheel. There were many attacks, he struggled, had to drop off the back of the group [Note: Dayer finished in 19th place, 1'10" behind] and I was only following my own pace. Díaz proved to be stronger than the rest of us at this point of the race; as I stated many times before the race, I’m really just at 50%, still with much room to improve and need to work before my main goals of the year. Let’s see what the team can do this week.”