Miguel Ángel López (Medellín-EPM) sealed final overall victory at the Vuelta a San Juan as Sam Welsford (DSM) won stage 7 in a bunch sprint ahead of Fabio Jakobsen (Soudal-QuickStep) and Giacomo Nizzolo (Israel Premier Tech).
There was late drama as world champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) escaped on the last lap in the company of Quinn Simmons (Trek-Segafredo), sowing a considerable degree of panic in the peloton behind.
Evenepoel and Simmons attacked with 14.5km remaining, building a maximum lead just shy of half a minute and forcing a desperate chase before they were reeled back in with a little over 3km to go.
López forged his victory by soloing clear on the Alto Colorado on stage 5, and despite Evenepoel’s cameo, the Colombian secured his triumph on Sunday evening, 30 seconds ahead of Filippo Ganna (Ineos) and 44 up on Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe).
It remains to be seen whether López’s victory in Argentina will do anything for his chances of returning to the WorldTour. The 28-year-old signed for Continental squad Medellín-EPM following his dismissal from Astana last month due to his links to Dr Marcos Maynar, currently at the centre of an anti-doping inquiry in Spain.
Sunday’s finale doubled as a farewell to Max Richeze (Argentina), who rode ahead of the peloton to rapturous applause for the first of the stage’s seven laps of the ring road around San Juan.
Once the race got underway in earnest, Mathias Vacek (Trek-Segafredo), Carlos Salguiero (APHotels and Resorts – Tavira) and Laureano Rosas (Gremios) escaped from the peloton, building a maximum lead of one minute, but a coalition of sprinters’ teams ensured the evening would end with the expected mass finish.
Evenepoel threatened to produce a late deviation from the script, but in the end, it was the fast men who decided the spoils, with Welsford claiming his second win in as many days.
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