While chaos swirled around stage 4 at the Vuelta a San Juan on Wednesday, Mihkel Räim (Israel Cycling Academy) fought through the confusion to battle for a podium spot in the final sprint, just missing out to winner Max Richeze (Quick-Step Floors), runner-up Giacomo Nizzolo (Trek-Segafredo) and third-placed Matteo Pelucchi (Bora-Hansgrohe).
"I like to say I am maybe the first unknown name in the race today," the 24-year-old Estonian joked with Cyclingnews after the finish in Villa San Augustin.
Räim is no stranger to podiums, having won stages at the Colorado Classic, Tour d'Azerbaïdjan and Tour de Slovakia as well as winning the overall at the Tour of Hungary. But his fourth place on Wednesday may be his biggest result against the level of sprinters he's facing in San Juan.
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The stage 4 sprint was no ordinary affair, either, as Fernando Gaviria crashed with 45km to go, in an incident that split the peloton before neutralisation at a water hazard briefly slowed things down.
The day got off to a rough start for the race when overnight rains caused flash flooding that left large amounts of debris on parts of the course and completely submerged others. Organisers delayed the start by an hour to give crews time to clear the debris and let the water recede.
Once they were on their way, a small breakaway went away that was eventually reeled in, as per the usual. But Gaviria's crash during the chase turned everything on its head. When the groups started fighting for position in the final sprint, the organisation was gone and it was a mad scramble.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/raim-breaks-through-chaos-in-san-juan
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