The 2013 Tour de San Luis was the 7th edition of the Tour de San Luis stage race. It was part of the 2012–2013 UCI America Tour, and took place between 21 and 27 January 2013. The race was won by Daniel Díaz of the squad, which enjoyed a successful event, as their riders Emmanuel Guevara and Leandro Messineo took the mountains classification and the sprints classification, respectively. The youth classification went to Alejandro Sivori of the Argentina National team and the team classification went to .
Teams
The twenty-seven teams invited to the race were:
Stages
Stage 1
21 January 2013 — San Luis to Villa Mercedes,
The first stage contained no major difficulties, with the only categorised climb of the parcours being a Category 3 climb, the Alto Saladillo, situated from the start. From that point, the course was mostly a descending false flat to the finish in Villa Mercedes.
A breakaway of seven riders racing for non-World Tour teams formed and enjoyed a lead of eight minutes as they crested the Alto Saladillo. Flavio de Luna from a Mexican selective team was the first atop the climb, which earned him the red jersey for the mountains classification leader at the end of the stage. Upon the descent, the sprinters' teams , , and took station at the front of the peloton, bringing the escapees' advantage down to four minutes with remaining. The remnants of the break were ultimately caught in the closing stages, setting up a bunch sprint finish. Peter Sagan tried to lead-out his teammate Lucas Sebastián Haedo to the line, but a crash occurred in the final stunting most teams' lead-outs. Mark Cavendish avoided the incident, launching from the train and won clearly, ahead of rivals Sacha Modolo and Alessandro Petacchi, to take a début victory for his new team, .
Stage 2
22 January 2013 — Tilisarao to Terrazas del Portezuelo,
The parcours for the second stage was relatively similar to the previous stage, with only one categorised climb – the third-category Alto Paso Grande coming in the first third of the race – during its itinerary. The finish at Terrazas del Portezuelo provided the riders with a twisty uphill finish, but was still expected to provide a sprint finish.
A five-rider move went clear after of racing, including Emmanuel Guevara of local team , who was first atop the only climb of the day, moving him level on points with the mountains classification leader, Flavio de Luna. Guevara later had to depart from the breakaway due to him feeling unwell. Nevertheless, the break enjoyed a maximum lead of almost five minutes, but was reeled in mostly by the and teams. Sacha Modolo of derailed the big teams' plans as he beat rivals Mark Cavendish and Leigh Howard in the sprint. Modolo confided afterward that he learned the finish was uphill during the race while chatting with other riders, as he first thought it would be flat. Along with the victory, Modolo assumed the leader's jersey from Cavendish, on countback.
Stage 3
23 January 2013 — La Punta to Mirador del Potrero,
Stage 3 was denoted as the queen stage of the race, and included two categorised climbs in the opening half of the stage; a third-category climb was followed by the first-category Alto de Nogoli climb, at the midway point. The stage continued up to a summit finish, on the first-category Mirador del Potrero, above Lake Potrero de los Funes.
A breakaway of seven riders went clear early on, and included teammates Jorge Giacinti and Leandro Messineo. Giacinti was the first rider to cross each of the first two climbs of the day in front, collecting enough points to take the mountains classification jersey. Messineo would also join Giacinti during the post-stage ceremonies, as he won the two intermediate sprints of the stage, which was sufficient to take the sprint classification jersey from Walter Pérez. The breakaway was eventually caught by a group of forty riders with to go.
At the foot of the long Mirador del Potrero ascent, Alex Correia Diniz of attacked and maintained a slight advantage on the chasers throughout the climb itself, as the gradient increased. The chase was led by a small group which dropped pre-race favourites Alberto Contador (), Vincenzo Nibali () and Joaquim Rodríguez () among others. Diniz held on to cross the finish line solo with an advantage of 24 seconds over his closest rival, Mauro Santambrogio of . With that victory, Diniz took the lead in the overall classification from overnight leader Sacha Modolo, stating that his result was "huge" for Brazilian cycling.
Stage 4
24 January 2013 — San Luis, , individual time trial (ITT)