Published January 15, 2015 04:45PM
Katie Hall wins Tour Femenino de San Luis stage 5
Jamildes Fernandes of team Brasil leads the general classification heading into the final day of racing, one second ahead of Lauren Stephens
Katie Hall's stage 5 win was her first major international victory. Photo: Maximiliano Blanco
Katie Hall (UnitedHealthcare) won the Tour Femenino de San Luis’ 63-kilometer queen stage on Thursday.
It was Hall’s first major international victory, and UnitedHealthcare’s third at San Luis. Hall out-sprinted Jamildes Fernandes (Brasil) at the mountaintop finish on Filo Sierras Comechingones, a five-kilometer climb.
“We had a really good plan for the day to make a break happen,” Hall said. “I’m really thankful to my teammates for having the trust in me to bring it home.”
After an early breakaway’s advantage began to decrease, Hall attacked and brought Fernandes along as well as a select group of other riders. On the final ascent, the rest were dropped and only Fernandes could respond to the 28-year-old American’s attacks, until Hall’s final move stuck in the finale.
The day before, Team Tibco’s Lauren Stephens won the stage 4 12.8km individual time trial by a fraction of a second over Alison Tetrick (Optum-Kelly Benefit Strategies). With her TT victory, Stephens assumed the GC lead.
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However, with her second-place finish on stage 5, Fernandes jumped from ninth to the top of the general classification. She now leads Stephens by one second.
Heading into the final day, Hall leads the mountains classification, double stage winner Hannah Barnes (UnitedHealthcare) is the best young rider, and Brasil leads the team classification.
On Friday, the six-stage race will conclude with a 80.4km, five-lap circuit race that starts and finishes in San Luis, Argentina.