The second stage of the Volta is the easiest of this edition. The riders will start in Girona and finish in Banyoles, after 3 laps to a circuit around the lake that sits next to the Catalan town. The route is very flat, especially in the final circuit, what will probably make it a day for the sprinters again. Giacomo Nizzolo will therefore have a chance to defend his leader's jersey.
The peloton exerted a thight control on anyone that wanted to break away and that meant that the break took a long time to be formed. It only had 2 riders in the end: Julien Simon (FDJ) and Gianni Meersman (Tinkoff). They had built a gap of 3 minutes with 70 kilometers remaining. Clearly not enough to make it dangerous. In the first intermediate sprint of the day Giacomo Nizzolo consolidated his lead by taking the 2 bonus seconds available.
The second intermediate sprint of the day was at the entrance of the final circuit, in Banyoles. The main bunch had almost chased down the break already and their gap was down to less than 1 minute. In the sprint for the remaining points Jose Joaquin Rojas beat Giacomo Nizzolo and Alexander Kristoff. Meanwhile, Cannondale has given up on the role they took yesterday as it seems that Elia Viviani is injured from yesterday's crash and will not be able to fight for the stage.
Another bigger crash rocked the peloton today, this time only 4 kilometers to the finish line. Tejay van Garderen was the first to tumble and he was in the top places of the bunch. The American took many riders with him, including Andy Schleck, Michael Matthews and Lloyd Mondory. The only rider that could not continue was Fran Ventoso, the sprinter from Euskaltel. No sprint trains are being formed at the front due to the crash.
Tanel Kangert took advantage of the uncertainty at the front of the pack to put himself with a few meters over the bunch just before the last kilometer of the stage. However, it doesn't seem like the Estonian is strong enough to open a significant gap. Among the best sprinters towards the front of the bunch are Daniele Bennati, Luca Paolini and Giacomo Nizzolo. It seems like an Italian will be the most likely winner in Banyoles.
Tanel Kangert is surprisingly holding off his chasers and with 500 meters to go holds a decent lead. The sprint has started in the main bunch and a few sprinters seem to be napping. Jonathan Castroviejo is leading the pack with Matthew Goss behind for the locals Movistar ahead of Fredrik Kessiakoff and Daniele Bennati. Giacomo Nizzolo does not seem to be as good as he was yesterday as he still has not emerged.
Tanel Kangert wins in Banyoles! In a massive surprise, the Estonian takes the win in the second stage of the Volta a Catalunya. His attack came with slightly more than 1 kilometer to go and he suffered a lot to hold on to the lead but narrowly beat Matthew Goss. The riders behind were very surprising as Rob Ruijgh took the third place ahead of Emanuele Sella and Giacomo Nizzolo. The Italian will hold the lead for one more day but he will lose it for sure tomorrow.
The earlier crash completely broke the main bunch and the leading group was made of only 70 riders, with another big group losing 1 minute. Among those who will lose most of their chances for a final win are Tejay van Garderen, Jean-Christophe Peraud, Jurgen van den Broeck and Andy Schleck.
SSJ2Luigi wrote:
the easiest chance for sprinters and they miss it
Most of the top sprinters lost their lead out men and they just did not know what to do. I think many teams were waiting for their leaders that had crashed and Kangert capitalized.
The last time I did a "featured rider" section about Mikel Nieve the Spaniard had just signed for Discovery Channel. Three years later he has consolidated as the main reference for the American team. Nieve is at this stage among the very few riders that have a podium in the three Grand Tours, as he got one on each season from 2011 to 2013. However, last year he narrowly missed by getting the fourth place in the Vuelta a España behind David Lopez.
He has been able to complement these results with stage wins in the Tour and the Vuelta and a few other podiums in Romandie, Catalunya and Pais Vasco. However, the biggest negative point in the career of Mikel Nieve is the difficulty he faces to be able to win the overall classification of a race, something he has not been able to achieve yet. There has been people that have argued that the Spaniard is too focused in the Grand Tour and disregards a little bit the smaller races, where he would have an easier time. However, it could also be that he is better in the long run.
Nieve has anyway been the clear leader in the Discovery Channel squad for a while. The other leaders of the team will be Jean-Christophe Peraud and Thibaut Pinot but it is difficult to see them making a better job than Nieve. The Spaniard will be focusing on the Giro d'Italia this year and will leave the leading role in the Tour to Peraud in a somewhat strange decision by the team. It is unclear how this move will affect Nieve, but it could potentially upset his relationship with the team a little bit.
There are two mountain stages in the Volta a Catalunya and this is the first of them. The GC should get pretty much ordered after today's tough finish in Vallter 2000. There are two climbs before the final one that are classified as first category but it is doubtful that they deserve such a high rating. The main favorites for the overall win in the Spanish race should show their faces and one of them will most likely be the winner of the stage.
The group of escapees reached the first climb of the day, the Alt de Sant Hilari, with a gap of 4 minutes on the bunch. The group of 6 included Tom Danielson (Belkin), Bart de Clercq (Sky), Alessandro Ballan (BMC) and Tom van Asbroeck (Vacansoleil). There were a lot of riders keen to be in the break but HTC and Discovery were not willing to let a big group go ahead. De Clercq was 2nd in the mountains' classification before the stage and easily took the points at the top.
Trek prepared the second intermediate sprint in San Esteve d'En Bas with the intention that Giacomo Nizzolo continued adding points for the green jersey but it did not quite work for them. Simone Ponzi took the sprint in the group ahead of Peter Sagan and Jose Joaquin Rojas. It seemed like there had been too many climbs for Nizzolo. The gap to the break had already shrunk to 2' 30'' with 62 kilometers remaining so their hopes were not high. The most surprising thing was the attacks by Matthias Frank, Andy Schleck and Cadel Evans, although they were quickly reeled back in.
Lots of riders had showed attacking intentions earlier in the stage but it was not until the climb to the Collabos tunnel that the first gaps started appearing. It is surprising to see such an attacking mentality from some riders with 35 kilometers to go. A group of 3 riders (Tiago Machado, Cadel Evans and Jean-Christophe Peraud) was ahead of the bunch and 1' 35'' behind the break. Another group with Matthias Frank, Juanjo Cobo and Andy Schleck was trailing close behind while the main bunch was 3 minutes behind the break with Cannondale and Ag2r setting the pace. Among the attackers only Cadel Evans had not lost time in the previous days.
The flat section between the last two climbs had 20 kilometers and it was enough for the leading groups to merge in a 12 riders group that led the race at the bottom of Vallter 2000 (15 kilometers to go). This group could well survive a good amount of kilometers. They had 55 seconds on Jerome Coppel and 1' 30'' on the bunch. Ag2r and Cannondale are making all the hard job and burning all their riders. The setup is perfect for Cadel Evans, let's see if he can deliver.
The front group soon broke in two with only 4 riders remaining at the front with 10 kilometers remaining: Matthias Frank, Juanjo Cobo, Tiago Machado and Tom Danielson. They had 25 seconds on their chasers but the peloton was already closing in on them as David Lopez took the lead of the bunch and, with some sporadic help from Lampre, managed to close the gap almost completely. Robert Gesink and Robert Kiserlovski had attacked to bridge the gap but were part of the bunch again.
The group of 4 that had the lead of the race was quickly reeled back in thanks to the pace of the Euskaltel team mainly in the bunch but there were plenty of attacks as everyone seemed to think that they might take the stage win. With 7 kilometers remaining Frank Schleck and Tiago Machado had opened a gap of 20 seconds over a group of 3 riders (Mikel Nieve, Igor Anton and Peter Stetina). The group of the favorites was 45 seconds behind the leaders and Giacomo Nizzolo had already given up fighting to stay with the best. We will be seeing a different leader at the end of the stage.
The leading duo could not maintain their gap and it was Peter Stetina's turn to attack. The American, who is the current winner of the Vuelta, easily opened a gap and maintained it. With 4 kilometers remaining he has 15 seconds on Frank Schleck and 35 seconds over a group of 11 riders including Laurens Ten Dam, Robert Gesink, Rob Ruijgh and David Lopez. Another group is trailing 1' 15'' behind with Bauke Mollema, Matthias Frank and Jelle Vanendert. It seems that Bauke Mollema has been a bit more selective with his targets this season, as he had already stated before the race that he did not think he could fight for the podium here.
Robert Gesink attacked with 3 kilometers to go when he thought that Peter Stetina was gaining too much time and dragged his country-mates Laurens Ten Dam and Rob Ruijgh with him. However, it seems like Ten Dam has the better legs and with 2 kilometers remaining he has gone on his own to chase Stetina. He is 10 seconds behind. The chasing group of 11 riders is only 25 seconds behind Stetina, while Bauke Mollema's group is losing 1' 45''.
Laurens Ten Dam seemed to be closing in on Peter Stetina but the gap is still 10 seconds as they go under the flame rouge. The group of the favorites has been shaken and shattered to pieces as Rob Ruijgh and Robert Gesink are 25 seconds behind Stetina and a group of 3 (David Lopez, John Gadret and Frank Schleck) is 35 seconds behind. FDJ looks on track to their best result so far in a stage as Gadret could even grab their first points in the Pro Conti classification.
Peter Stetina wins in Vallter 2000! The American held off Laurens Ten Dam, who caught up with him within the last kilometer, to take his first win of the year. The BMC rider will also take the leader's jersey after the stage with a narrow lead of 2 seconds on Laurens Ten Dam. A group of 5 riders lost 30 seconds at the finish line, led by Rob Ruijgh ahead of Robert Gesink, David Lopez, John Gadret and Frank Schleck.
Some important riders lost quite a bit of time, like Bauke Mollema (2' 01'', Andy Schleck (6' 15'' and Tejay van Garderen (11' 45''. Schleck and Van Garderen surely felt the injuries due to the crash they both suffered yesterday. Another mountain stage should leave the GC more or less settled ahead of the easier three following stages.
The fourth is clearly the most important stage in the Volta a Catalunya. The stage is a continuous up and down of climbs and 212 kilometers long, what will be a good test for the endurance of the favorite climbers. To make the day complete, the stage finishes with two HC climbs, the Port del Canto and Port Aine. Port Aine itself is 18 kilometers long climb averaging 6.5%. Peter Stetina and Laurens Ten Dam were the best in the mountains yesterday, but the stage is quite different today.
BMC was not keen on allowing a strong break go away but in the end they did not quite manage it. Even though the break was only 6 men big it had Matthias Frank (Garmin), Tejay van Garderen (Trek), Daniel Martin (Ag2r) and Jakob Fuglsang (Vacansoleil). Even if they are not in the best shape, it is never good to have two men that were in the podium of the Tour de France last year in the break. The group reached the top of the Alt de Pedraforca with a gap of 4' 30'' on the main bunch and with Riccardo Zoidl chasing to join them.
The first intermediate sprint of the day was quite far into the stage, in La Seu d'Urgell (75 kilometers to go). Nevertheless, Giacomo Nizzolo managed to stay in the bunch to beat Simone Ponzi and Alexander Kristoff for the available points. Cannondale and Euskaltel were trying to make the race hard and the gap for the break was not too big at 5 minutes. With Matthias Frank sitting in the break they were always going to have a hard time making it to the finish.
The serious climbing started with the Port del Canto, a 25 kilometers long climb that would start to put everyone in their place. Matthias Frank was the only one doing the work in the break and, even though halfway through the climb the group was still of 7 riders, it seemed as if not all of them were going to make it to the top. Meanwhile, the bunch is chasing 4 minutes behind with Kanstantsin Siutsou, Jurgen van den Broeck and Igor Anton doing the chasing. They are some of the best domestiques in the bunch. There are 90 riders still in the peloton though.
Bart de Clercq jumped from the peloton to grab the KoM points at the HC climb but Mikel Nieve was quicker than him to the line. They crossed the top of the climb 4 minutes behind the break, but with 44 kilometers remaining it is not a very big distance. As expected, Matthias Frank dropped some of the riders from the break and only Tejay van Garderen, Domenico Pozzovivo and Daniel Martin managed to stay with him. Meanwhile, BMC regained the control in the main bunch but their pace was not as high as before.
The flat section between the Port del Canto and Port Aine was not very long but the bunch did a very quick descent and cut the lead of the break to 1' 10'' at the start of the last climb. As soon as Port Aine started Matthias Frank decided to go away and only Tejay van Garderen could follow and with 15 kilometers remaining they are settled at the front. Xavi Tondo also attacked straight away but Igor Anton and Emanuele Sella took the lead in the group of the favorites and brought the Spaniard back very quickly.
Matthias Frank finally dropped Tejay van Garderen, who was still recovering from the crash in stage 2. However, with 10 kilometers remaining his gap had dropped to 20 seconds over John Gadret and Andrew Talansky. The FDJ rider seems to be way stronger than what the general consensus thought he would be. The group of the favorites, led by Emanuele Sella, was 30 seconds behind Frank. BMC seemed to have the race completely controlled so far. Another of the riders who was very willing to attack was Frank Schleck but he had more willingness than good legs.
The weather was nice for most of the stage but it started snowing with 7 kilometers remaining. Mikel Nieve was obviously comfortable in that weather (Nieve means snow in Spanish) as he attacked and got past Matthias Frank. He seemed to be quite strong today as Robert Gesink and David Lopez could not follow the Spaniards wheel. Emanuele Sella seems to have burnt all his energy so far and Peter Stetina is relying on David Lopez to set the pace.
Mikel Nieve managed to stay ahead only until Robert Gesink attacked with 4 kilometers to go. The Dutch is among the favorites to take the stage win today. He left Nieve 10 seconds behind, while Xavi Tondo and David Lopez are 20 second behind Gesink. The group of the favorites is a few seconds behind them and has decreased to only 15 riders. Among the top 10 in the GC only Igor Anton is missing, so at this point the GC is not changing very much.
Laurens Ten Dam decided to take advantage of the work Cannondale had previously done to increase the pace of the race and paced the group of favorites until he reeled back in everyone but Robert Gesink. When they were 2.5 kilometers to go there seemed to be a halt to the pace as Ten Dam, David Lopez and Peter Stetina looked at each other. Lopez finally attacked and only Ten Dam and Stetina could follow. However, with 2 kilometers remaining they were 25 seconds behind Gesink. A group of 7 including Mikel Nieve, Rob Ruijgh and Frank Schleck was 40 seconds behind Gesink.
Laurens Ten Dam took off in the last hard slope with slightly more than 1 kilometer to go and caught up with Robert Gesink at the 700 meters mark. By that time they already had a gap of 15 seconds on their chasers. Peter Stetina was leading the chasing group. He needs to cut the gap to Laurens Ten Dam or he will lose the leader's jersey. David Lopez, Rob Ruijgh, Robert Kiserlovski and Frank Schleck are trailing behind the American.
Laurens Ten Dam wins in Port Aine! The Dutch pushed even harder in the last kilometer and managed to put 18 seconds between himself and David Lopez and Robert Gesink. The former leader, Peter Stetina, only managed to take the 5th place in the stage losing 31 seconds and the leader's jersey. Rob Ruijgh and Robert Kiserlovski finished alongside the American.
Laurens Ten Dam now has 34 seconds on Peter Stetina and almost a minute on Robert Gesink and David Lopez ahead of the last three stages, where he should have no problems to defend his lead. However, the differences are small enough among some of the chasers that we might still see some of them make attacks in the last couple of races to try to gain places.
The fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya comes back to the easier terrain and it looks like a good chance for the sprinters. The stage will start close to the Pyrenees and will trend generally downhill towards Lleida. The only difficulty of the day in the Port d'Ager, but it is not hard enough for the sprinters to lose track with the bunch.
The break of the day took a long time to take shape and it only did so after the first intermediate sprint of the day. The group of 4 riders was formed by Pablo Lastras (Discovery), Andriy Grivko (Giant), Gianni Meersman (Tinkoff) and Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil). They had a gap of 5' 15'' with 76 kilometers to go but Cannondale, Trek and HTC were already managing the pace of the bunch. It will be difficult for them to get to the finish line.
The second intermediate sprint of the day took place in Alfarras, with only 27 kilometers remaining. In the sprint of the bunch Alexander Kristoff easily beat Giacomo Nizzolo and Jose Joaquin Rojas. The gap to the break had already come down to 1' 30'' as Trek was giving it all at the front, obviously trusting Giacomo Nizzolo, who has already won one stage. However, Euskaltel also has Sacha Modolo and Lloyd Mondory working.
The group of 4 had seen their gap decreased to 25 seconds with 8 kilometers remaining and that meant that they would not be able to stay ahead. HTC joined the chase and even riders like Tejay van Garderen and Andrew Talansky are helping their teammates in the chasing. In the case of Talansky it is quite curious, as he is still the 11th in the GC. Meanwhile, the sprinters are already taking the front positions of the bunch.
The break was reeled in and three teams quickly set up their sprint trains. HTC was leading with 3 kilometers to go, as Tanel Kangert was going to lead Jose Joaquin Rojas out. They had Tony Gallopin right behind. In Euskaltel it would be Sacha Modolo who would launch Alexander Kristoff, while Samuel Dumoulin had taken the wheel of the Norwegian. The third train was Trek's, as Daniele Bennati would lead Giacomo Nizzolo. Michael Matthews was placed right behind the Italian. Other sprinters well placed were Matthew Goss, Denis Galimzyanov and Yauheni Hutarovich.
Sacha Modolo was doing a perfect job of setting the sprint for Alexander Kristoff and the Euskaltel was beating the Trek train of Daniele Bennati. Meanwhile, HTC was lagging way behind and all the riders in that train, including Jose Joaquin Rojas were going to have a hard time in the sprint. It would have been better for Rojas to try his luck on his own than having such a poor sprint train. Among those who have made progress are Stefan van Dijk and Robbie McEwen.
Stefan van Dijk surprisingly emerged from behind Alexander Kristoff to lead the sprint with 500 meter remaining. The Norwegian started his sprint late, so he will probably have better legs in the last few meters of the stage. Behind them, the third place at that time was still for Sacha Modolo while Robbie McEwen was fourth ahead of Giacomo Nizzolo. The Italian is sprinting well but it looks like he will be a bit late.
Alexander Kristoff wins in Lleida! The Norwegian caps an excellent work by the Euskaltel team, who clearly have the strongest setup in terms of lead out men and takes their third stage win of the season, following the two that Francisco Ventoso had taken earlier in the year. Stefan van Dijk was again a very good second, although he lost the stage by more than a bike's length. He has been second twice in this Volta and must be itching to give Giant their first win.
The top 5 was completed by Giacomo Nizzolo, Jose Joaquin Rojas and Robbie McEwen. It is remarkable how bad the set up for Rojas was, given that he gave the feeling that he could have even won today had he started his sprint for the front of the pack. With this result Giacomo Nizzolo has almost settled the green jersey classification, as there are two stages remaining that are not really suited for the sprinters.
The sixth stage in the Volta will have an interesting finish beacuse the Alt de Lilla is only 11 kilometers from the finish line. However, the first part of the stage is very flat and the previous Alt de Prades does not seem hard enough for battles to develop there. However, with very small gaps in the general classification it is always possible that a few riders try to gain a few places in the GC.
Cannondale tried to allow a break not too big but in the end 8 riders formed the break of the day, including Thibaut Pinot (Discovery), Franco Pellizotti (Astana), Steven Kruijswijk (Belkin), Julien Simon (FDJ) and Vasil Kiryienka (Tinkoff). Halfway through the stage they had built a gap of 6' 15''. Considering that only Cannondale is controlling the peloton it would not be surprising if the break is allowed to take the stage win today.
The first climb of the day was the Alt de Prades a first category climb that was long but not too demanding. The fact that no one was dropped makes it clear that, even though Katusha joined Cannondale at the front of the bunch, the pace was not very hard. The break reached the top of the climb with a big gap of 9' 30'' with 64 kilometers remaining. Considering Thibaut Pinot was 11 minutes behind it seemed about time some teams started chasing them back. At the top of the climb Wilco Kelderman jumped to take the KoM points.
It seemed that Wilco Kelderman was chasing the KoM points but he was joined by Matthias Frank and they decided to break away from the bunch. However, their purpose was unclear as Matthias Frank could gain a few places in the GC but Kelderman was too far behind. The stage win was out of question as with 20 kilometers remaining they were 7' 15'' behind the break. Meanwhile, the bunch seemed to have awakened and they were 9' 15'' behind. Euskaltel and BMC had joined the chase and the gap started decreasing.
The fight in the break started soon in the Alt de Lilla. By the time they got to the top Steven Kruijswijk was alone at the front with a gap of 5 seconds on Vasil Kiryienka, 15 seconds on Julien Simon and 30 seconds on the rest of the break. However, with 11 kilometers to go the gaps seemed small to guarantee anything. Thibaut Pinot decided not to follow the attacks but set the pace of the group for most of the climb. Meanwhile, the bunch had cut the break's difference to 8' 30'' and Pinot was therefore not dangerous.
The attacks also started at the bottom of the climb in the bunch. Mikel Nieve was the first one to try to break away but he was quickly followed by most of the favorites. The riders that were slower to react were Frank Schleck and John Gadret. They both seemed not to be well positioned ahead of the climb. There were a few riders keen on attacking but most of the counterattacks managed to keep everything together.
Most of the favorites reached the top of the climb together, in a group of 10 units. However, there were significant riders missing, like Peter Stetina, who was losing 35 seconds, Frank Schleck, who was 50 seconds behind, and Denis Menchov and John Gadret, who were 1' 15'' behind. It will be interesting to see who takes the responsibility to set the pace in that group, because many riders have something to win. Meanwhile, the break was 4 kilometers from the finish line and Steven Kruijswijk and Vasil Kiryienka had a mere 10 seconds on their 6 chasers.
It was clear that the last flat kilometers were a good terrain to see regroupments and the break got back together with 3 kilometers to go. They started the final sprint with more than 1 kilometer to go, with Steven Kruijswijk soon starting to get away from the others. Tom van Asbroeck, Vasil Kiryienka, Thibaut Pinot and Domenico Pozzovivo were the ones leading the chase. Meanwhile, Robert Kiserlovski attacked in the favorites group and caught up with Matthias Frank and Wilco Kelderman in the descent. They had an advantage of 25 seconds.
Thibaut Pinot wins in Valls! The French played the conservative approach in the last climb and it paid off with the first win in the season for him. Pinot caught up and overtook Steven Kruijswijk and was quick enough to hold off Julien Simon, who took the second place. Kruijswijk had to settle for the third place, while Domenico Pozzovivo and Franco Pellizotti completed the top 5 of the stage.
Robert Kiserlovski reached the last 2 kilometers of the stage with a gap of 20 seconds over the rest of the favorites. The Croatian did not want the pace of the group to stop and knew that he had a chance to overtake both Frank Schleck and John Gadret in the GC. The French is especially losing time, more than 1 minute with the group of favorites, but has found the collaboration of Tinkoff in his group. The rider that did make it to the leader's group was Peter Stetina, successfully defending his second place in the GC.
Robert Kiserlovski didn't manage to hold on to his lead when the group of the favorites started sprinting. In the end, Jelle Vanendert led Robert Gesink and Kiserlovski through the line. The group of Frank Schleck and John Gadret lost 57 seconds and that means that they will both lose a couple of places to Robert Kiserlovski and Mikel Nieve.
The GC is mostly settled ahead of the last stage finishing in Montjuic. The most interesting battle will be the one for the third place in the podium, as Robert Gesink leads David Lopez by only 2 seconds. Considering that it is not a stage in the sprinters the Spaniard could well aim to take some bonus seconds at the finish line and snatch the third place in the podium.
I'm not a regular reader, but simply the fact that this still steadily turns up on my latest posts board is impressive enough to now congratulate you on that
Thanks for the encouragement from your comments. If nothing relevant happens in the last stage it seems like Ten Dam is going to win his first stage race.
The Volta a Catalunya finishes with a stage that is interesting but probably irrelevant for the final result of the GC. The only place in the podium that might change is the third, as Robert Gesink is only 2 seconds ahead of David Lopez. The final circuit in Barcelona will feature the climb to Montjuic, the icon of the Olympic Games in 1992. The riders will have to do 8 laps but with the climb averaging 4.4% it is not expected to make a big difference.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in Castelldefels (79 kilometers to go). A group of 5 riders were ahead with a fap of 2' 30'': Simon Geschke (Giant), Gianni Meersman (Tinkoff), Sergey Chernetskiy (Katusha), Arnaud Demare (FDJ) and John Atapuma (Sky). The main bunch was keeping the break within reach but the sprinters knew that the stage was not for them today and sprinted hard to take the points. Jose Joaquin Rojas beat Giacomo Nizzolo and Alexander Kristoff. The Italian will be the winner of the green jersey at the end of the race.
The peloton was closing in to the break with 3 laps remaining but a few important riders didn't want to let the opportunity pass without attacking. Among them were Robert Kiserlovski, Rob Ruijgh, Denis Menchov and John Gadret. They finished the sixth climb to Montjuic 45 seconds behind the break but ther gap to the main bunch was quite small. Seeing these attacks it wouldn't be unthinkable for some riders to make a difference at the finish line.
David Lopez had to set the pace himself in the penultimate climb in order to bring back the dangerous break that had been formed, a group that even Peter Stetina had managed to join. However, the Spaniard, along with Tejay van Garderen, caught them. In the descent Xavi Tondo took the chance to attack and, considering he is behind in the GC, he was allowed to open a gap. Thibaut Pinot and Peter Stetina tried to join him but couldn't follow.
In the last climb the lead was taken by David Lopez again joined by Tejay van Garderen and Andrew Talansky. Even though they are among the best in the hills they could not bring Xavi Tondo back and the gap was still 30 seconds at the top of the hill. Igor Anton took the relaying responsibilities in the descent towards the finish line with 4 kilometers to go. As expected, the sprinters are quite behind, although still in the main bunch.
Xavi Tondo reached the last kilometer with 20 seconds on the bunch. The Spaniard looked set to win the last stage of the Volta. The main bunch was led by Igor Anton, leading David Lopez, who needs to be second to gain the place in the podium. Andrew Talansky and Kanstantsin Siutsou were right behind. Meanwhile, Robert Gesink was too far back to fight for the bonus seconds, so he would have to rely on Lopez not getting the bonus.
Xavi Tondo wins in Barcelona! The Spaniard gives Lampre the first win of the year, completing his attack with 7 kilometers to go in the descent of the penultimate climb. Oddly, he was not awarded any time difference with his chasers and that will keep him in the 10th place in the GC. The sprint of the group was won by Igor Anton in front of his teammate David Lopez. This was clearly a mistake from Euskaltel, as the bonus seconds that Anton took would have given Lopez the third place in the GC.
The top 5 of the stage was completed by Juanjo Cobo and Laurens Ten Dam. The Dutch took the overall win in the Volta a Catalunya, his first win in a stage race. He will be joined in the podium by Peter Stetina and Robert Gesink. The Dutch has been a great signing for the Ag2r team and he is quickly paying back for the confidence that the French team put in him. The Volta therefore finishes with no Spaniards in the podium as David Lopez, last year's winner, could only manage to get the fourth place.
