Tour de San Luis: German Tivani wins stage five as big crash hampers peloton

German Tivani (Argentina) won stage five of the 2016 Tour de San Luis in Argentina on Friday, with a huge crash in the peloton injuring a number of riders.

Tivani out-sprinted double Tour de San Luis overall winner Daniel Diaz (Delko Marseille Provence KTM) to take the honours.

Making it an all-Argentina top three, Emiliano Ibarra (Sindicato de Empleados Publicos de San Juan) finished just behind the lead pair in third. Team Sky sprinter Elia Viviani - riding for Italy in the race - brought home the peloton for fourth place.

Stage four winner Eduardo Sepulveda (Fortuneo-Vital Concept) retained the overall race lead, sitting three seconds ahead of Dayer Quintana (Movistar). Dayer's older brother, Nairo, moves up to third at 42 seconds.

Tivani, Diaz and Ibarra had all been part of the day's escape group alongside Ramiro Cabrera (Uruguay). The latter was dropped with 25km to go, leaving the trio to fight it out for stage honours.

Diaz attempted to launch a solo move within the final 3km, but was reeled back in to set up a three-way sprint.

The peloton had been held up by a crash at the 25km-to-go point that involved a large number of riders, and the impetus to chase down the escapees was lost.

Movistar reported after the stage that its riders Nairo Quintana, Daniel Moreno, Adriano Malori and Marc Soler had all been injured in the incident. Malori was taken to hospital after reportedly being knocked unconscious.

Etixx-QuickStep confirmed that Rodrigo Contreras - who started the day in third place overall - was also caught in the crash, and was taken to hospital with a knee injury.

>>> Can you guess what Vincenzo Nibali gave Peter Sagan before stage four in San Luis? (video)

The 2016 Tour de San Luis continues on Saturday with stage six from La Toma to Merlo. The 159.5km route features a first category climb to the finish line, providing the last real opportunity for the general classification contenders to show their hand. The UCI 2.1-ranked race concludes on Sunday, January 24.

Results

Tour de San Luis 2016, stage five: Renca to Juana Koslay, 168km

1. German Tivani (Arg) Argentina

2. Daniel Diaz (Arg) Delko Marseille Provence KTM

3. Emiliano Ibarra (Arg) Sindicato de Empleados Publicos de San Juan at same time

4. Elia Viviani (Ita) Italy at 1-34

5. Lucas Haedo (Arg) Jamis at same time

Overall classification after stage five

1. Eduardo Sepulveda (Arg) Fortuneo-Vital Concept

2. Dayer Quintana (Col) Movistar at 3 secs

3. Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar at 42 secs

4. Miguel Lopez (Spa) Astana at 51 secs

5. Roman Villalobos (CRc) Costa Rica at 1-06