Glory in front of the Aldo Cantoni Stadium went to Argentinian Nicolás Tivani, who dominated in a mass sprint that will go down in the history of the 2026 Vuelta a San Juan, after a heart-stopping finish in the temple of San Juan sport.
The first stage linked the city of San Juan, Sarmiento, and Albardón in a battle that crossed the heart of the province, challenging the peloton’s frenetic pace before the triumphant entry onto the ring road of Avenida Circunvalación. There, Tivani, the defending champion, clocked a time of 2:57:21 and took the overall lead, displacing Kevin Castro, winner of the prologue held in Santa Lucía.
The stage was run under mostly overcast skies and sweltering temperatures, but none of that prevented the day’s winner from maintaining his position as the top San Juan rider in the competition. His consistency on the roads has put him at the top of this 41st edition of the Vuelta a San Juan.
In the special categories, Ramiro Videla Páez leads the Under-23 class, while the Plus Racing representatives, Chileans Francisco Kotsakis and Héctor Quintana, lead the mountain and sprint classifications, respectively.
The South American race continues this Sunday with the second road stage, a 130-kilometer route around the department of Sarmiento.
