Gaviria dominates opening Vuelta a San Juan Sprint
Quick-Step Floors train placed Gaviria in the perfect position for the final Sprint on the opening stage. Vincenzo Nibali withdraws with stomach flu which hit the Bahrain Merida team
A breakaway formed early on and creatd a gap of three minutes over the peloton. Adrian Richeze (Asociacion Civil Agrupacion Virgen de Fatima), Daniel Juarez (Asociacion Civil Mardan), Pablo Anchieri (Uruguay), Facundo Cattapan (Rawson Somos Todos), Duilio Ramos (Argentina), Juan Melivilo (Municipalidad de Pocito) and Victor Olivares (Chile) got caught with 18 kilometres to go by the peloton, as they wound up for the final sprint, chased down by Quick-Step Floors, Trek - Segafredo and UAE Team Emirates
Francisco Monte (Asociacion Civil Mardan) tried his luck in a solo move With 16 kilometres to go, but the sprint trains easily reeled him back in. In the last kilometres.
Quick-Step Floors' sprint train managed to organize itself perfectly in the final kilometre and positioned Gaviria to the front for him to make his final sprint and take the stage victory.
Niccolo Bonifazio (Bahrain-Merida) crossed the finish line second and Matteo Pelucchi (Bora-hansgrohe) was third.
The second consecutive season that Gaviria has won the opening stage at the Argentinean race, which runs all week over seven stages.
VIDEO@ 2018 Vuelta a San Juan Stage 1 Finish
2018 Vuelta a San Juan Stage 1 Top 10
1 Gaviria, Fernando Quick-Step Floors
2 Bonifazio, Niccolò Bahrain-Merida Pro Cycli..
3 Pelucchi, Matteo Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Nizzolo, Giacomo Trek-Segafredo
5 Belletti, Manuel Androni Giocattoli-Sider..
6 Richeze, Mauro ACA Virgen de Fátima
7 Lucero, Héctor EC Municipalidad de Pocito
8 Riabushenko, Aleksandr UAE Team Emirates
9 Richeze, Maximiliano Quick-Step Floors
10 Peñalver, Manuel Trevigiani-Phonix-Hemus