Nairo Quintana (Movistar) proved that he has improved in the time trials when he finished 16th in the 19,2km race against the clock on the 5th stage of the Tour de San Luis and took over the leader's jersey from Phillip Gaimon (Garmin-Sharp). Having started the race with the intention of limiting his losses, he was positively surprised by the outcome and will now ride a bit more defensively in today's mountain stage.

After putting in a dominant show of power on the Alto del Amago on Thursday, Nairo Quintana had moved himself into 2nd place on GC in the Tour de San Luis but still had to make up 4 seconds on surprise leader Phillip Gaimon who had won stage 1 from a breakaway. With Gaimon being a neo-professional, the leader was largely unknown for the Colombian star and so Quintana didn't know what to expect ahead of yesterday's 19,2km time trial.

Gaimon is riding for Garmin-Sharp who is known for their dedicated focus on time trials and so Quintana went into the stage with the intention of limiting his losses. However, he surprised himself by distancing his rival by 30 seconds to take over the lead with a 26-second buffer.

The day was generally a good one for Movistar who won the stage with Adriano Malori and had Andrey Amador in 5th. Quintana was happy to put the icing on the cake.

"It was a beautiful day for the whole team and that what makes me most happy," he said. "Especially with Malori who did a remarkable time trial, and myself as I could take over the leader's jersey. I was coming into this TT with a bit more of a focus on not losing time and testing my legs against the clock, but I felt strong on the parcours and the result proves it. Even though I was riding with this TT bike for the first time, I felt really good. It's an amazing bike and the legs responded well, too."

The race is far from over as there is still another summit finish on the very steep Mirador del Sol and a flatter stage to come. Finding himself in the race lead, Quintana now expects to take a more cautious approach to today's battle in the Argentinean mountains.

"This gives me confidence for the days left in the race," he said. "I'm tackling that final mountain stage in a different way that I expected. I had to attack to win, but now we'll be racing in a more defensive way, letting a small break go away and responding to attacks that will certainly happen into the final ascent.

"Having such a strong team makes me even more confident - not only for tomorrow, but for the whole season. Let's hope we can retain this jersey until Sunday."

After the Argentinean race, Quintana will turn his attention to a positive private event.

"After that, it'll be time to head back to Spain for the team presentation and then again back to Colombia to witness the birth of my baby," he said. "I can't really miss that particular event - at all!"

Quintana leads 3rd placed Sergio Godoy (San Luis) by more than 2 minutes