Sam Welsford comes out on top in tight stage 6 Vuelta a San Juan sprint

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Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) keeping the roadside fans happy at the start

Sam Welsford (Team DSM) took victory in a tight sprint on stage 6 of Vuelta a San Juan, beating Sam Bennett (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Fernando Gaviria (Movistar) to the line outside the Velódromo Vicente Chancay.

Miguel Ángel López (Medellín-EPM) finished safely in the peloton to move closer to final overall victory, but the day also saw the unexpected abandon of Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), who withdrew in the opening kilometres due to knee pain sustained in a crash earlier this week.

The day’s honours were always going to be decided among the sprinters, and it was perhaps only fitting that Welsford, with his track background, emerged victorious at the site of the 2025 UCI Track World Championships, although this was a win that showcased his immense potential on the road.

The long and slightly downhill finishing straight was made for a sprint where pure speed had to be matched by a degree of finesse, and Welsford timed his effort perfectly. He came around European Champion Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) and then pipped Bennett to take the spoils.

Welsford was dispatched to San Juan rather than race the Tour Down Under on home roads due to the wealth of sprint opportunities in Argentina. He had been hindered by a crash earlier in the week, but he made the most of the opportunity that fell his way here.

“It was really a hard day out but pretty controlled for the sprint teams," said Welsford. "The run-in was really fast. I think we hit speeds of up to 75 kph in the sprint, so it was really fast and that last 5km was really tough.”

Soudal-QuickStep and Bora-Hansgrohe looked to be dictating terms on the run-in, with Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) prominent on behalf of Jakobsen, but Welsford was smartly marshalled into place by his DSM team in the final kilometre.

“It was just one of those finals where it’s slightly downhill and very hard to lead from the front as guys can come from your slipstream. The only problem was that I ran out of gears,” Bennett said, joking: “I’m just sorry my bike wasn’t two or three inches longer.”

In the overall standings, López maintains a lead of 30 seconds over Filippo Ganna (Ineos Grenadiers) and 44 over Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) ahead of Sunday’s finale in San Juan, where the sprinters should again be to the fore.

“I came to this race to enjoy, to have a good time with the whole team and to fight like I always do,” said López, who was fired by Astana last month due to his links to Dr Marcos Maynar, dropping down to Continental level with Medellín. “I think we deserve the victory for all the work that we have done from the beginning. Hopefully tomorrow we can be crowned champions.”

How it unfolded

The dust of this Vuelta a San Juan appeared to have settled after Friday’s summit finish atop the Alto Colorado, but the race reserved unexpected drama for the penultimate stage, which started and finished at the new Velódromo Vicente Chancay.

A year on from the training crash that left him with career-threatening injuries, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) had placed a heartening fourth on the Alto Colorado with a performance that boded well for his prospects at next week’s Colombian Championships and beyond.

However, 18km into Saturday’s stage, news crackled over race radio that Bernal had abandoned the Vuelta a San Juan. Ineos reported shortly afterwards that he was suffering from pain in his left knee, apparently caused by a crash on the opening stage of the race last Sunday.

Those opening kilometres had been characterised by a flurry of attacking, and it took some time for the break of the day to establish itself on the road out to the striking Dique Ullum reservoir and the steady climb to Punta Negra. The eight-man move that ultimately spent most of the day in front was led by the retiring Max Richeze (Argentina), who was making another attempt to land a valedictory stage win on home roads after his near miss behind Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo) earlier in the week.

Richeze made a late, late effort there. This time, he struck from long range, and he was joined by his brother Mauro Abel Richeze (Chimbas), Filippo Magli (Green Project-Bardiani), Rafael Lourenço (APHotels and Resorts - Tavira), Juan Pablo Dotti (SEP San Juan), Emiliano Ibarra (Gremios) and Gerardo Matias Tivani (Agrupación Virgen de Fatima - San Juan Biker Motos).

The presence of Magli, three minutes behind López in the overall standings,   meant the break was kept on a tight leash by Medellín-EPM for much of the day, and their advantage shrank still further when the sprinters’ teams shook themselves into action.

After Evenepoel’s GC challenge fell short on the Alto Colorado on Friday, Soudal-QuickStep were never likely to let the chance to tee Jakobsen up for victory pass them by. Together with Bennett’s Bora-Hansgrohe team, they closed in inexorably on the break, sweeping them up with a shade under 18km to go.

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