Unexpected startegy from Euskaltel, playing the Avermaet card early, forcing the peloton to use up their energy, and then setting of Kristoff for the final punch.
There was no Volta a Catalunya last year but the race comes back to the calendar in 2017 as a HC race that has 16 teams at the start of the race in Calella. The most important absences are the ones from Lotto, Etixx and BMC. That is 3 out of the top 4 teams in the World Tour rankings last season. It should be a good chance for climbers of less important teams to grab the chance and go for a podium. Nevertheless, we have Laurens Ten Dam and David Lopez in the race, who had a very nice battle in the last Giro d'Italia which we could see repeated in the race. They are also the last 2 winners of the race.
In terms of the route, it is the same that we saw back in 2015. The most important stages will be the mountain-top finishes in Vallter 2000 and Port Aine. Both those stage will be very interesting but there will be another 3 stages after the finish in Port Aine and the GC could well be already settled by that time. The last chance to make a gap will most likely be the penultimate stage finishing in Valls. There has been no one that took the overall win twice int he Volta yet but this could well be the year that happens given the riders that have shown up in Catalunya.
Favorites:
- Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale - Drapac): Ten Dam has not had a very good start of the season but he has been present in all the stage races so far. However, he has not been able to get any good results as his appearances in the Paris - Nice and the Tirreno - Adriatico both resulted in crashes for him. Nevertheless, he seems to be fit again for the Volta a Catalunya and ready to cause havoc in the mountains. Given his main rivals he would surely do with a short time trial, especially considering David Lopez is his main rival but he will have to settle for 2 mountain-top finishes.
- David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi): David Lopez will race at home in Spain after crashing in the Tirreno - Adriatico when he was on course to getting a likely top 5 result. It would not have been the best of his performances but he was strong enough in his first race of the season. The Volta a Catalunya should be a much more important target for the Euskaltel team and they will expect nothing short of a win from their leader. Nevertheless, the start of the season has been so strong for the Spanish team that their managers should not complain whatever is the final result in this race.
- Juan Jose Cobo (HTC - Highroad): Juanjo Cobo does not have many chances to be the leader of the team in a race so he should make the most of the Volta a Catalunya this year. Actually, the only podium that he has ever got in a stage race was his 3rd place in the 2014 Volta. That year was a bit of a disappointment for him as it could have been his breakthrough. His role in the stage races in 2017 should be much more relevant for him given that the only other competitive climber in the team is Andrew Talansky. HTC no longer has that many climbers following the departure of Levi Leipheimer to Trek.
- Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery Channel): The field in this Volta a Catalunya is not as strong as in the World Tour races and this can benefit riders like Peraud. The French would be among the favorites in many stage races in the World Tour but probably not in one that does not have any time trials. This led him to win the Criterium du Dauphinie last year but he got a big advantage over other stage races in the flat time trial. In the climbs he should be among the best 10 riders but so should be his teammate Robert Kiserlovski so it will be interesting to see what the team does.
Other riders with a shot at the podium are Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Mikel Nieve (Team Katusha), Jose Serpa (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery Channel), Chris Froome and Xavier Tondo (Lampre - Merida).
Among the sprinters, the best at the start should be Elia Viviani (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r - La Mondiale), Tyler Farrar (Tinkoff), Francisco Ventoso and Matthew Goss (Movistar Team) and Michael Matthews (Cannondale - Drapac).
The Volta a Catalunya will start with a sunny day and by the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The town that will host the start will be Calella, around 30 kilometers from Barcelona along the coast. The first stage is classified flat but it will not be straight-forward for the sprinters to get the win. The riders will have to tackle a total of 5 categorized climbs. The last of those will be the Alt de Collsacreu, only 18 kilometers from the finish line. It is not very tough but if the pace is high enough to put some sprinters in trouble.
The race had started a bit chaotically and Sylvain Chavanel (Giant) was alone at the front of the race at the top of the Alt de Montseny. It was the toughest climb of the day but 118 kilometers from the finish line so it would not play a significant role. He was followed by Jonathan Hivert (Sky) and Cyril Gautier (FDJ), who lost 40 seconds at the top. Borut Bozic (Lampre) was a bit behind, 1' 30'' after Chavanel. Meanwhile, the peloton was not in a rush in the climb and were 4' 30'' behind, led by Euskaltel, Movistar and Ag2r. It had been a quick start of the stage but the peloton was happy with only 4 riders ahead.
The second intermediate sprint of the day was placed at the first passage through the finish line in Calella but the riders still had 79 kilometers to go. Elia Viviani (Euskaltel) was the quickest in the sprint of the group ahead of Tyler Farrar (Tinkoff) and Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r). The French team had worked hard to set up the sprint for him but Bouhanni could not get the points. Meanwhile, the riders in the break had formed a group of 4 and their gap had grown a bit to 5 minutes. At the approach to Calella the riders could feel the strong head wind in the previous climb, which will also be the last climb of the day.
The pace of the break was steady but the peloton was slowly cutting their lead. At the Alt de Montsoriu they had a gap of 3 minutes with 43 kilometers to go. Sylvain Chavanel was the first again at the top of the climb, which almost granted him the KoM jersey at the end of the day. At the bunch Katusha had put many riders to work at the front, including Jan Barta (Katusha), Sergio Henao (Katusha) and Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha). There were many teams waiting for the mass sprint in Calella but it would not be surprising for outsiders to attack at the last climb of the day.
The break was finally caught at the Alt de Collsacreu. Joaquim Rodriguez (Euskaltel) was leading the group at the climb and making it difficult for the sprinters. However, the strong head wind was not encouraging anyone to attack and the Spaniard was the first at the top, with 18 kilometers to go. Richie Porte (Movistar) and Julien Alaphilippe (Ag2r) were right behind. The descent could prove a bigger difficulty than the climb as there have been crashes in the past due to the speed. The riders are lucky that the road is not wet today.
The peloton reached the last 3 kilometers of the stage and the sprint trains were already set up. Ag2r would have Heinrich Haussler (Ag2r) to lead Nacer Bouhanni, while Matthew Goss (Movistar) was right behind. Bouhanni has been one of the surprises of the season so far. On the left-hand side Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel) would be the last man for Elia Viviani. Tyler Farrar following him. There was a third train as Juanjo Lobato (Movistar) would set the sprint for Fran Ventoso (Movistar), who had Mark Cavendish (IAM) on his wheel. Among the other riders that were going to fight for the stage we could see Michael Matthews (Cannondale), Joost van Leijen (Giant) and Jurgen Roelandts (Sky).
Juanjo Lobato was being a very good lead for Fran Ventoso but the final kilometer in Calella was very tricky as it had two consecutive turns right and left that could upset the positioning of a few sprinters. Nacer Bouhanni was the first of the favorites to emerge from behind his teammate Heinrich Haussler. It seemed it was a bit too early to do so, with a bit more than 1 kilometer. Meanwhile, Elia Viviani was suffering having Hubert Dupont working for him as the French is not used to these tasks. Among the others, they should be aware of the good positioning of Tyler Farrar at that point.
Nacer Bouhanni looked very strong in the early part of the sprint. He was followed by Joost van Leijen but the Dutch should not be a strong enough sprinter to battle for the win. The riders that was making big progress was Michael Matthews (Cannondale). We had not seen him before close to the front. Mark Cavendish and Fran Ventoso were starting to get closer as well. On the other hand, Euskaltel's train completely collapsed in the couple of turns before the final sprint and Elia Viviani is nowhere to be seen. Something similar happened to Tyler Farrar.
Michael Matthews wins in Calella! Matthews was very strong in the final sprint and even though he was not well positioned ahead of the final rush he managed to catch and overtake Nacer Bouhanni in the last few meters of the stage. The fact that the French had started his final sprint way too early probably contributed to that because he proved to be in a good shape. This is the 2nd win of the year for Matthews, who had already taken a stage in the Tour Down Under. The third place in the stage was for Fran Ventoso, ahead of Mark Cavendish and Joost van Leijen.
The first stage of the Volta a Catalunya was more or less what we expected. The favorites in the GC had to be aware of the last descent but as the day was nice it was not such a difficult descent. Michael Matthews will be the first leader and he could well hold on to the lead tomorrow as another mass sprint is expected at Banyoles. On the other side, it was a bit disappointing for Euskaltel that Elia Viviani could only be 10th in the stage as he was meant to be one of the pre-stage favorites. Not having a proper train probably hurt him.
The second stage in the Volta a Catalunya is the easiest for the sprinters. The only categorized climb is the Mirador de Sant Feliu, which is very early in the stage and not really a big climb. The stage will run next to the Mediterranean Sea for a while before heading towards Banyoles. There will be a circuit around the natural lake in the town, which will be 9 kilometers long and raced 4 times. The teams of the sprinters should have no problem chasing the break in the final circuit so a mass sprint is expected at the finish line.
There was not a big battle to form the break early in the stage. The group of 4 that made it was formed by Samuel Dumoulin (Orica), Christophe Riblon (Cofidis), Daryl Impey (Dimension Data) and Warren Barguil (FDJ). They had built a gap of 5 minutes at the climb to the Mirador de Sant Feliu but still 110 kilometers to go. The break was not very strong and, like yesterday, dominated by the French. Movistar, Cannondale and Ag2r were the teams setting the pace in the peloton but there was not a rush to bring the break back at this point.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in Banyoles, right at the entrance in the final circuit around the town. Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r) was the quickest in the sprint ahead of Fran Ventoso (Movistar) and Michael Matthews (Cannondale). With 38 kilometers to go the break still had a 2 minutes gap but it was clearly not enough for them to survive the last kilometers of the stage. Cannondale was controlling the pace completely and whenever they wanted to close the gap slightly they put Matti Breschel (Cannondale) and Tom Danielson (Cannondale) to work at the front.
Thomas de Gendt (Tinkoff) tried to surprise the bunch and attacked shortly after the intermediate sprint. He easily bridged the gap to the break but as they were about to enter the last lap of the circuit their gap had already come down to a mere 25 seconds. There were too many teams interested in the final sprint and we could even see important riders like Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel), Matthew Goss (Movistar) and Rinaldo Nocentini (Euskaltel) working at the front. It was clear that this was an important race for the Spanish teams.
The peloton swiftly caught the break and with 3 kilometers to go it was time for the sprinters to start taking positions. Ag2r were very quick today in taking the head of the peloton and they put Heinrich Haussler (Ag2r) to work for Nacer Bouhanni as his last man. Joost van Leijen (Giant) looked ready again to take part in the sprint as he was right behind. Elia Viviani (Euskaltel) would have Hubert Dupont again working for him and Marco Marcato (Katusha) was on the wheel of the Italian. Movistar had also built a train and today it was Matthew Goss who was leading Fran Ventoso. However, we would not see Michael Matthews (Cannondale) involved in the sprint as he had been involved in a crash that affected David Lopez (Euskaltel) and Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale) as well. They were set to lose a bit of time today.
Elia Viviani decided to go very early in the final sprint taking advantage of the slight uphill that the riders had to tackle in the run towards the flame rouge. Tyler Farrar (Tinkoff) and Marco Marcato tried to follow the Italian but others were caught napping. Nevertheless, such an early start to the sprint was always a risk. Nacer Bouhanni was a bit behind but still in the mix but Fran Ventoso had lost the wheel of Matthew Goss in the last turn and it was going to be a struggle to get into contention again. The sprint was a bit chaotic after the sharp turn left with a bit less than 2 kilometers to go.
It looked like Elia Viviani had started the final sprint too soon but with 600 meters remaining he was still solidly leading the sprint. Tyler Farrar was starting to lose a bit of track against the Italian even though he had caught his wheel when he jumped. The same happened to Marco Marcato. Among those that were gaining time we could see Nacer Bouhanni, who was already up to third and Fran Ventoso, who was facing an uphill struggle after his poor positioning as they entered the last kilometer of the stage.
Elia Viviani wins in Banyoles! The Italian clearly took the win, his second of the season, after a very strong final sprint. Even though he faded a bit in the last meters he had a gap big enough to maintain the lead as he crossed the finish line. Viviani had already won in the Tirreno - Adriatico and had to make the most of the Volta a Catalunya as Alexander Kristoff (Euskaltel) is not in the race. Fran Ventoso finished really strong and took the 2nd place in the stage, while Nacer Bouhanni was 3rd. The top 5 was completed by Tyler Farrar and Joost van Leijen.
It was amazing that Laurens Ten Dam crashed again in a stage race but David Lopez followed the same fate and they both lost 3 minutes at the finish line. We will probably have a surprising winner in the race because it will be difficult to make up for that gap in the coming stages. Michael Matthews was also among those in the rear group and that means that Elia Viviani is the new leader of the race. Those who suffered the worst consequences in the crash were Alberto Contador (Lampre) and Jonathan Castroviejo (Lampre) as they both had to retire from the race due to their injuries.
The last time we talked about Mathias Frank he had just broken through with a podium in the Tour de France when no one expected anything along those lines from the Swiss. Garmin was one of the poorest teams at the time and for them it was a very unexpected result, especially given that Frank held on to the leader's jersey for many days. Frank has shown since then that the result he got was not by chance. The 2014 year finished with a top 10 in the Vuelta a España, which proved that he was in the stage race business and willing to stay among the best.
The next year was the year of the confirmation for him. He was undoubtedly the reference in the team, with Jerome Coppel and Mark Cavendish as the other important riders. Additionally, he had earned himself a much more rewarding 3 year contract with the team. In the Grand Tours he could not repeat his good performances from the year before, getting only a 10th place in the Tour de France, but his win in the overall of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco made up for that disappointment. He also got a stage win in the Spanish race, a good confirmation that the legs that he had had in the previous season had not gone away during the winter.
The success that Mathias Frank achieved was also positive for the team, which saw how Garmin left in 2016 to sponsor Cannondale. However, they attracted IAM to their team and a bit more money, which Frank would be grateful as he would have a more solid team around him. It was also the year that marked the emergence of Jerome Coppel as a very important rider. He again did not disappoint. His 4th place in the Giro was not exactly what he expected but he dominated and won the Tour de Suisse, the most important race of the year for IAM Cycling.
In all the years that Mathias Frank made progress he helped his team a lot and attracted quite a bit of investment from the sponsors. However, this is the last season for him in his contract with IAM Cycling and he is already 32 years old. This does not necessarily mean that he is going to see a downturn of his results but can not leave his assault for a Grand Tour win for too long. The Tour de France this year will repeat the route that saw him take the 3rd place 3 years ago so it might be a good opportunity for him. However, he will have to find an edge against his former self to get something out of the Tour.
It is only the 3rd stage but the Volta a Catalunya will have one of its most important stages in the Pyrenees. The riders will start from Vidreres, south of Girona, to finish 177 kilometers afterwards in the Ski resort of Vallter 2000. The riders will have to face the climbs to Sant Hilari and the Collabos Tunnel before facing the final climb but those are not too hard and the battle should be left for the climb to Vallter, which has 15.8 kilometers averaging 6.5%. The stage is hard enough that the GC will be completely different at the end of the day.
There was a bit of a battle to form the break of the day. There was an initial group that was reeled back in but at the Alt de Sant Hilari another group had settled at the front. Among the 8 riders we could see Sylvain Chavanel (Giant), Anthony Roux (IAM), Julien Alaphilippe (Ag2r), Haimar Zubeldia (Tinkoff) and Nairo Quintana (Orica). They had a gap of 3' 30'' over the bunch but Ian Stannard (Sky) was also trying to bridge the gap. Euskaltel was leading the group and it was clear that David Lopez (Euskaltel) had given up in trying to fight for the GC as he was helping at the front. He would probably work for Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel) in the climbs.
There was only 1 point available at the second sprint of the day, in Sant Esteve d'en Bas. However, the sprinters still fought for it and it was Eila Viviani (Euskaltel) who took it ahead of Fran Ventoso (Movistar) and Michael Matthews (Cannondale). The bunch was progressively reducing the gap to the early break and with 62 kilometers to go they only had around 3 minutes. HTC had joined Euskaltel in setting the pace in the peloton and they were making a good job. Jurgen van den Broeck (Cannondale) had suffered a crash in the previous descent but was back in the peloton.
The top of the climb to the Tunel de Collabos was 34 kilometers from the finish line but that did not prevent Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale) from attacking. He jumped following an attack by Samuel Sanchez (Movistar) and they were also joined by Igor Anton (Cofidis). The Dutch had much time to recover and had to attack from far away if he wanted to have a chance in the GC. Haimar Zubeldia was first at the top of the climb with a gap of 1' 30'' over Ten Dam's group and 2' 25'' over the group of the leader. Joaquim Rodriguez (Euskaltel), Chris Horner (HTC) and David Lopez were leading the group.
Ryder Hesjedal (Dimension Data) attacked from the break when the peloton was already closing in. They had 15 kilometers to go and the climb had barely started. He brought Anthony Roux with him and Sylvain Chavanel was also trying to bridge the gap. Laurens Ten Dam's group had also made it to the early break but they were reeled in with the rest as David Lopez did a great job in the approximation to the climb to Vallter 2000. The Euskaltel rider proved that he is a team player when his teammates need him. Elia Viviani was still in the group but he should not hold on for long once the climb starts.
The riders from the break were reeled back in and it was the turn of other riders to attack. Tinkoff were very active in the first few kilometers of the climb as both Simon Spilak (Tinkoff) and Tiago Machado (Tinkoff) tried to open a gap. Laurens Ten Dam was always trying to follow and Pablo Lastras (Movistar) was also very active. However, they were all together under the 10 kilometers to go banner. Rein Taaramae (Katusha) was now controlling the pace in the group. Katusha had a few good climbers, including Tanel Kangert (Katusha) and Mikel Nieve (Katusha) in the race.
Laurens Ten Dam was very stubborn in trying to open a gap and attacked again with 9 kilometers to go. He managed to open a gap and was followed by Hubert Dupont and Juanjo Cobo (HTC). With 6 kilometers to go he had a gap of 20 seconds over the trailing duo and 35 seconds over the group with the rest of the favorites, which was led by Tanel Kangert, Wilco Kelderman (Giant) and Romain Bardet (IAM). There were many riders holding on in that group waiting for a safer distance to attack as the gaps had not grown too much. Meanwhile, Elia Viviani had dropped as expected from the back of the pack.
Katusha decided that they did not like the way the race was developing and they put their riders to chase down the attackers. They managed to bring them back quickly but that was the time when Chris Froome (Lampre) attacked. He only managed to get a few seconds gap but he slowly increased it. With 3 kilometers to go he was 15 seconds ahead. This was not an issue for most of the 16 riders in the chasing group as Froome had lost time yesterday in the crash. Juanjo Cobo was leading the group of the favorites but had no intention of chasing Froome. Meanwhile, Jose Serpa (Ag2r) was the last rider to drop and Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery) was struggling.
No one wanted to attack or did not have the legs given the pace set by Juanjo Cobo in the group of the favorites but it was not such a high pace as Chris Froome entered the last kilometer with a gap of 35 seconds over the group and looked set to take the stage win. It looked like most of the riders were thinking on tomorrow's queen stage and wanted to save energy. As proof that the pace was not that high, Jose Serpa managed to come back to the group. Nevertheless, one of them would take the leader's jersey and Cobo launched the final sprint first, followed by Rein Taaramae, Hubert Dupont, Vasil Kiryienka (IAM) and Chris Horner.
Chris Froome wins in Vallter 2000! The British had a really bad yesterday but he compensated today by taking the stage win for Lampre, his first for the Italian team. He took advantage of the fact that he was not a big threat in the GC anymore to cross the line 25 seconds the group of the favorites. The second place in the stage went to Juanjo Cobo, who also took the leader's jersey in the process. The Spaniard worked at the front of the group and still had the legs to win the sprint in the group so he must have very good legs in this Volta a Catalunya.
The third position in the stage was taken by Hubert Dupont, followed by Xavi Tondo (Lampre) and Rein Taaramae. A total of 17 riders managed to cross the line in the same time, which is surprising given that many top riders are not present in the race. Nevertheless, tomorrow's stage was probably conditioning the behaviour of many riders today. The last climb also proved that David Lopez is not the same rider after the crash yesterday as he ended up losing 6 minutes at the finish line.
The fourth stage in the Volta a Catalunya is the key day in the race. The riders will have to face a very tough day with 5 categorized climbs, especially the last 2: the Port del Canto and the final climb to Port-Aine. This last climb features almost 18 kilometers at an average gradient of 6.5%, so it should generate gaps among the top riders in the race. Additionally, the stage is 212 kilometers with almost 4,500 meters of cumulative climbing. All in all, a stage that has all the ingredients to be a very interesting day of racing.
The start of the stage was not easy at all for HTC, given that they wanted to control who got into the break. It was not until the second climb of the day, the Alt de Pedraforca, that the break consolidated. It was a group of 9 riders, including Michael Albasini (IAM), Nicolas Roche (Discovery), Damiano Cunego (Lampre), Haimar Zubeldia (Tinkoff) and Christophe Riblon (Cofidis). They had a gap of 3' 45'' over the bunch at the top, where Zubeldia took maximum points. However, there was another rider in between as Jonathan Hivert (Sky) was trying to bridge the gap.
Joaquim Rodriguez (Euskaltel) showed up at the top of the climb to the Josa del Cadi but most of the work at the front of the group had been done by Michal Golas (HTC) and Sergio Henao (Katusha) in the climb. The climb was much more difficult than what it showed in the profile given the tough sections of climbing the riders had to go through. The gap to the break had grown quite a bit to 7 minutes, which made Nicolas Roche the virtual leader of the race at that point. Nevertheless, the peloton was not too worried as there was a lot of climbing to do in the stage.
There was not much going on in the race until the Port del Canto started. However, as soon as it did Pablo Lastras (Movistar) attacked and easily opened a gap with the bunch. The Spaniard is a dangerous rider and they should not let him go too far. Halfway through the climb, with 56 kilometers to go, Lastras was 3 minutes behind the break and the peloton was chasing, 4' 35'' behind. HTC was carrying out most of the chase, mainly with Chris Horner (HTC) and Simon Clarke (HTC), with sporadic appearances of Euskaltel riders. Meanwhile, Jonathan Hivert had finally managed to get to the break after half the stage chasing alone.
There were no other attacks at the Port del Canto until the last kilometer of the climb, when Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale) jumped from the bunch. He crossed the KoM sprint with a small gap over the bunch and almost catching Pablo Lastras ahead. They seemed likely to try to open the gap a bit taking risks in the long descent towards Sort. Jurgen van den Broeck (Cannondale) and Nairo Quintana (Orica) tried to jump as well but were not allowed by the group. Haimar Zubeldia was first again at the top of the climb and got enough points to lead the KoM classification at the end of the day.
There was not much of a flat section between the bottom of the Port del Canto and the final climb to Port-Aine. As soon as the riders took the turn right to head uphill Haimar Zubeldia attacked from the break and brought Jakob Fuglsang (Dimension Data), Michael Albasini and Riccardo Zoidl (Orica) with him. With 17 kilometers to go they had 1' 15'' over Laurens Ten Dam and Pablo Lastras, while the peloton was losing 2' 20'' against the lead riders. The gap was nowhere near enough for them to have a chance. The climb should be quite hard after such a long stage.
As soon as the group of the leader took it a bit more seriously the escapees had no chance. Hubert Dupont (Euskaltel) attacked really hard with around 12 kilometers to go and crossed the 10 to go banner with a gap of around 15 seconds over a group formed by Romain Bardet (IAM), Rein Taaramae (Katusha) and Jurgen van den Broeck. Juanjo Cobo (HTC) and Xavi Tondo (Lampre) were 35 seconds behind Dupont and the rest of the favorites were losing around 50 seconds. Van den Broeck has been very keen on attacking as the Cannondale team does not have much to lose in the race.
It looked like the race was completely broken a few kilometers before but with 6 to go Hubert Dupont only had around 10 seconds over the group of the leader, which had 11 riders. It was snowing over the bunch but it did not seem to be affecting the riders too much. Juanjo Cobo was doing most of the work at the group trying to catch Dupont back and riders were dropping from the back. The last to do it were yesterday's winner, Chris Froome (Lampre) along with Lars Peter Nordhaug (Ag2r), Vasil Kiryienka (IAM) and Robert Kiserlovski (Discovery). They were around 35 seconds behind.
Hubert Dupont was eventually caught back by the group and Chris Horner appeared again at the front to help Juanjo Cobo set a pace. With 3 kilometers to go it was again Jurgen van den Broeck who tried to attack but he dragged Mikel Nieve (Katusha) and Romain Bardet and eventually the rest of the group followed. It looked like most of the group of 12 would make it to the last kilometer together. Only Jean-Christophe Peraud (Discovery) was suffering. Among those trying to lose as little as possible, Lars Peter Nordhaug was only 55 seconds behind.
There were no other attacks until Juanjo Cobo saw the last kilometer banner and left the rest of the group behind easily. With 600 meters to go he had 20 seconds over the group, led by an attacking Jurgen van den Broeck again and followed by Mikel Nieve, Laurens Ten Dam and Chris Horner. By the looks of that attack Cobo could have left the rest of the group behind easily at any point in the climb. The fact that he has never won a stage race before was probably making him play a bit more conservative than necessary. He was surely going to put time between him and the rest of the favorites.
Juanjo Cobo wins in Port-Aine! The Spaniard waited and waited until the last kilometer to launch his attack and it worked really well. He got his first win of the season and is in a great position to get the overall win in the Volta a Catalunya. A group of 4 riders crossed the finish line 37 behind led by Hubert Dupont, who will remain in the 2nd place in the GC but 41 seconds behind. Laurens Ten Dam was third but he will stay 3 minutes behind in the GC. The other 2 riders in the group were the Katusha boys Mikel Nieve and Rein Taaramae.
Another group of 6 riders lost 52 seconds to Cobo, including Xavi Tondo, Romain Bardet and Jean-Christophe Peraud. However, the stage did not make the big differences among the favorites that we were expecting beforehand. There will be question marks as to whether David Lopez (Euskaltel) and Ten Dam would have been able to make the race tougher without the crash they suffered. Tomorrow's stage will be easier and meant for a sprint but on Saturday Katusha could make things interesting if they are ambitious and want to win the race.
