Hubert Dupont is no longer the greatest Grand Tour rider in the World Tour, a title that he handed to Bauke Mollema after the Tour de France of 2012. However, his career is not dead by any means as he has proved at the start of this season by getting a podium in the Paris - Nice and finishing 5th in the Tirreno - Adriatico. The French has proved that he can still be a dominant force in the mountains, although his time trial abilities are somewhat lacking compared to riders like Mollema and, especially, Van Garderen.
The good performance of Hubert Dupont in these one week races is something rather surprising as most of the criticism that the French had suffered in the past was that he just concentrated in the Grand Tours and disregarded the smaller races. In fact, he only has one win in those, the Paris - Nice in 2009, and one podium in the 2011 Criterium du Dauphine.
The change in performance in those races probably comes as a result of the increased competition that he found last year when moving to Rabobank. Rob Ruijgh won the Giro and Dupont could only be 3rd in the Vuelta. His improved performance could be a bid to regain the leader role in the team as the team, now Belkin, has signed the Dutch climbers Robert Gesink and Steven Kruijswijk. It will be interesting to see how the team manages the egos of so many good riders, including two GT winners.
It is good to remember that Dupont won the World Tour classification twice, as has done Mollema, and he won the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, again the same as Mollema. The two of them are probably the most successful riders in this story so far.
The Volta has been absent from the World Tour calendar 3 years and it returns classified as an HC race. This fact hurt the participation on the race a little bit, but it is not a matter of much concern as many of the top riders in the peloton are in Catalunya. The changes in the route are notable, as there are two mountain-top finishes in Valter 2000 and Port Aine, very demanding climbs. However, the time trial was lost in the way, even if it was only a three kilometers prologue in Lloret de Mar in the past. The race will start in Calella, where the first stage will also finish.
It will not be until the third and fourth stages when the race will be decided. The route won't be too demanding before climbing Valter 2000 on Wednesday, but the successive climbs of the Port del Canto and Port Aine on a 212 kilometers stage means that the GC will probably be settled by Thursday. The last day of racing in Barcelona will provide the last opportunity to gain time, as the circuit with the climb to Montjuic is quite demanding.
Favorites:
- David Lopez (Euskaltel - Euskadi): Being the Volta a race for the pure climbers, David Lopez has great chances of getting a good result. The Spaniard has already got top 10 in the Paris - Nice and the Tirreno - Adriatico this year and will be looking forward to get an overall win that has avoided him in the last couple of years.
- Andy Schleck (Omega Pharma - Quickstep): The terrible start of the season for Quickstep might be turned around in the Volta if Andy Schleck produces some of the performances that allowed him to finish 6th in the Giro last year. The Luxembourgish has been the only rider that showed his face in the early season for his team, but sadly for them that is not saying much.
- Robert Gesink (Belkin Pro Cycling): Gesink has taken a big step forward this season and can even enjoy to be named among the favorites in a race where he shares a squad with Rob Ruijgh and Steven Kruijswijk. It is worth noting that Belkin will not wait for him if he is having a bad day though because they could target a podium with at least 3 riders.
- Mikel Nieve (Discovery Channel): A slow start of the season meant that Mikel Nieve was merely training in the Tirreno - Adriatico. However, one week later he should already be among those targeting the stages and the overall win. Discovery is another team that has not begun his season according to expectations, so any good results will be more than welcome.
Other notable riders that might show their faces in the mountains will be Juan Jose Cobo (Sky Procycling), Peter Stetina (BMC Racing Team), Robert Kiserlovski and Jelle Vanendert (Lotto - Belisol), Laurens Ten Dam (Cannondale Pro Cycling) and Rob Ruijgh (Belkin Pro Cycling).
The best sprinters that have come to Catalunya are Lloyd Mondory (Euskaltel - Euskadi), Kenny van Hummel (Belkin Pro Cycling), Simone Ponzi (Katusha Team), Tony Gallopin (BMC Racing Team), Matthew Goss (Lotto - Belisol) and Chris Sutton (Vacansoleil - DMC).
The Volta a Catalunya starts with a stage around the Mediterranean town of Calella, around which the riders will complete two circuits. The first one is the hardest, as it includes the climb to the Alt de Montseny. It is expected that a mass sprint will settle the stage, but we cannot discard some surprises in the finish because the last climb is only 18 kilometers from the finish line, most of them very favorable. The purest sprinters might have trouble getting through that climb.
The break of the day was very easy to make, as the first attack of the day was successful. The group of 4 was made of Bradley Wiggins (Katusha), Jan Barta (Lampre), Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Ag2r) and Juan Antonio Flecha (Movistar). They reached the top of the second climb of the day, the Montseny, with a gap of 5' 30'' on the bunch. Wiggo had taken the first intermediate sprint, while that mountain sprint was won by Jonathan Tiernan-Locke ahead of Flecha.
The first circuit around Calella finished with 80 kilometers to the finish line, where an intermediate sprint was placed. The main bunch was quite quiet until the approximation to it. Lotto made a big effort to bring Goss well positioned, but it was Tony Gallopin who took the points ahead of Peter Sagan and Lloyd Mondory. The gap of the break had reduced to 3 minutes at that point.
18 kilometers from the finish line was the top of the Alt de Collsacreu, climbed three times today. Sky was the team doing most of the work in the peloton and they managed to cut the lead a lot. However, it was still the break that went first through the top of the hill. Jonathan Tiernan-Locke took the points and will wear the mountains jersey tomorrow. Jan Barta lost contact with his break fellows and crossed the top 20 seconds behind, while the peloton was losing 1' 15'' at the top of the hill.
Juan Antonio Flecha was the last rider to be caught by the bunch with 8 kilometers remaining. The riders in the break could not stay ahead as BMC and Lotto pushed hard to have a mass sprint in Calella. Even a rider like Peter Stetina, the winner of the Paris - Nice is working for Tony Gallopin at the front of the pack. The remainder of the stage is very flat, so no other break attempts are expected.
BMC is doing an amazing job for Tony Gallopin and the French still has Giovanni Visconti and Bernhard Eisel ahead of him with 3 kilometers remaining. Behind the BMC train Lotto has John Degenkolb ahead of Matthew Goss. The Australian probably has the best lead-out man on the field today. Behind Goss and also well positioned are Chris Sutton and Kenny van Hummel.
Tony Gallopin got blocked in one of the multiple turns that lead to the final straight after John Degenkolb alone was able to defeat the whole BMC train. Matthew Goss then started sprinting from far away and as they enter the last kilometer of the stage he is leading the way ahead of Kenny van Hummel, Chris Sutton and Gregory Rast.
Matthew Goss ran out of gas very early and had disappeared from the top with still 500 meters remaining. It looks like he spent too much energy in the climbs. It is Kenny van Hummel leading the way ahead of Gregory Rast, Cameron Meyer and Jelle Vanendert now. It looks like the reduced field (only 104 riders in Catalunya) and the lack of sprinters has encouraged some other riders to join the sprints. However, they should look behind them as Tony Gallopin and Chris Sutton are gaining places fast.
Tony Gallopin wins in Calella! Today is clearly the day for Gallopin. It did not matter that he got completely blocked in the last two turns of the stage and caught out of position as everyone began sprinting. The Frenchman recovered lots of places in the last meters of the stage to take the win. Something similar happened to Chris Sutton, who nearly took the stage away from him.
However, the quality of the sprinting is not too good when Jelle Vanendert can take the third place ahead of Kenny van Hummel and Cameron Meyer. It was a day for sprinters who go through the hills easily like Lloyd Mondory, Simone Ponzi and Peter Sagan but they were unable to deliver. They will all have another chance tomorrow but the route is much flatter than today so the purer sprinters will have it easier.
Banyoles will be the finish town for the second stage of the Volta a Catalunya. Today is the most clear mass sprint opportunity and the sprinters will surely be very keen on grabbing the opportunity. The final circuit around the lake of the Catalan town is the most remarkable feature of the stage, as the route is very flat and especially in the second part of today's stage.
The break was again very easily formed today as neither BMC or any other team wanted to waste energy chasing in the opening kilometers. A group of 4 went away: Carlos Barredo (Vacansoleil), Maarten Tjallingii (Ag2r), Moreno Moser (Cannondale) and Sebastian Langeveld (Movistar). They reached the only climb of the day, the Mirador de Sant Feliu with 5' 45'' on the main bunch. Barredo seemed the only one interested in the mountain points and got them easily.
The stage was again really quiet until the main group approached the second intermediate sprint in the entrance to Banyoles (38 kilometers to go). The strongest in the bunch was Tony Gallopin, who took the 5th place in both sprints today, this time ahead of Chris Sutton and Kenny van Hummel. The overall winner of both sprints was Maarten Tjallingii, who took 6 bonus seconds in the process and will jump to the top 10 of the GC if he doesn't lose time in the finish line. The break had 1' 30'' on the bunch ahead of the 4 laps around the lake of Banyoles.
The peloton played with the gap to the break in the subsequent laps to the circuit and ended up catching them with 7 kilometers remaining. Maarten Tjallingii had tried a desperate attack but the strength of BMC and Lotto were again too strong. All the main sprinters seem to be well positioned today ahead of a twisty approach to the final sprint.
Belkin is surprisingly the strongest train today with only 3 kilometers remaining. It looks like Kenny van Hummel is confident on getting a good result today. He has Theo Bos to lead him out. Meanwhile Lotto has again John Degenkolb leading Matthew Goss. However, all the main sprinters are well positioned, especially Chris Sutton and Jure Kocjan.
Matthew Goss again cannot wait to get out of Degenkolb's wheel and leads the sprint with 1 km remaining. It was probably not a good idea considering that the sprint is slightly uphill. Several other sprinters have reacted to Goss' move including Kenny van Hummel, Jure Kocjan, Tony Gallopin and Simone Ponzi.
The Australian seems to have better legs than yesterday and is still leading the way with half the last km gone. Even though he is not one of the worst sprinters through the hills it seems like the flat stage today favored him better. However, Kenny van Hummel seems to be already closing the gap and Simone Ponzi and Tony Gallopin are looking threatening. See that Gallopin is in the white leader's jersey.
Simone Ponzi wins in Banyoles! The Italian brought his good shape from the Milano - Sanremo to deny Kenny van Hummel of the stage win. Ponzi never lost any speed during the sprint and that allowed him to be clearly first in the finish line. Van Hummel demonstrated that he has leapt ahead this year, but he is probably helped by the lack of competition in Catalunya.
Tony Gallopin added to his bonus seconds by finishing third so he keeps the leader's jersey. Matthew Goss and Lloyd Mondory completed the top 5 of the stage. The focus will now change to the GC in the next two stages, but today Laurens Ten Dam and Cadel Evans lost some of their chances after losing over a minute. Tomorrow the first mountain-top finish will happen in Valter 2000.
Thanks, glad you like it. I think the best motivation is doing this for yourself. I would still be playing this story for myself if pcmdaily didn't exist. Also, I have no interest in advancing very fast. I limit myself to 1 stage per day max so that when I play again I am keen to write what is happening.
About the Stories section... I just wanted to keep all the story in the same thread so I did not bother asking the thread to be moved to PCM12 Stories. I would move sections if I could keep the whole thread as 1, otherwise I am fine here.
The mountains are soon enough in the Volta a Catalunya as the third stage brings us the first mountain-top finish of the race. The stage will go all the way up to Vallter 2000 after going through the climbs of Sant Hilari and the Collabos tunnel. However, even if they are catalogued 1st category they are not so hard. Being the Volta a race for the pure climbers expect the GC to start taking shape after today's stage.
The break today has some familiar faces, as Juan Antonio Flecha (Movistar) and Jonathan Tirenan-Locke (Ag2r) both were in the opening stage break. They are joined in a group of 6 by other riders like David Millar (Vacansoleil) and Rein Taaramae (Katusha). The fight for the mountain points between Flecha and Tiernan-Locke started in Sant Hilari (115 kilometers to go). The British, the current leader of the classification, outsprinted Flecha with Millar third at the top. The group had a gap of 8 minutes over a main group that was having a quiet stage.
The second intermediate sprint was placed in Sant Esteve d'En Bas (62 kilometers to go), where Matthew Goss beat Tony Gallopin and Denis Galimzyanov for the sixth place. The break had lost one member, Rein Taaramae, after a puncture and the Estonian had been reeled back in shortly before the sprint. The gap of the break had already decreased to 2' 35'' as Euskaltel and Discovery were controlling the race pace.
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke won the battle of the mountains against Flecha at the entrance of the Collabos tunnel. He extended his lead at the front of the mountains classification to 9 points. As we said, the 7 km climb averaging 5.6% is a bit too soft to be considered a category 1 climb. Meanwhile, better riders like Igor Anton and Samuel Sanchez are setting the pace in the climb and they go through 2' 40'' behind Tiernan-Locke. They only had 35 kilometers to the finish from here so the favorites are already placing themselves at the front of the pack.
The movement in the main bunch started quite early, as soon as it was clear that the early break was not going anywhere. As the first slopes of Vallter 2000 started George Hincapie, Bart de Clercq and Rinaldo Nocentini attacked. They still had 14 kilometers to go when they started catching riders from the break but their gap to the bunch was not growing and stood for a while at 20 seconds. Samuel Sanchez kept pulling the bunch for Mikel Nieve.
The three riders stayed ahead until the 10 kilometers banner, when David Lopez and Mikel Nieve easily bridged the gap to them. Peter Stetina soon reacted to those riders opening a gap but Sky was more patient as Chris Froome was slowly bringing everyone back together. It is too early for the main riders in the field to start making attacks, so they were probably just seeing how everyone else reacted.
That first attempt was quickly reeled back in but several others tried it shortly afterwards. Robert Gesink and Laurens Ten Dan opened a small gap but they were also quickly caught again. With 6 kilometers remaining a harder attack by Gesink allowed him to open a gap again. This time it was only Andy Schleck who followed. Maybe this could be a good movement to follow.
Gesink's attack was good but many followed him subsequently. However, when several favorites joined ahead David Lopez launched what seems to be the attack of the day. Only Laurens Ten Dam and Peter Stetina were able to follow the Spaniard. Behind the, a group of 8 riders formed but 3 kilometers from the finish line they are already losing 40 seconds. Robert Kiserlovski is taking the responsibility to chase.
Robert Kiserlovski attacks from the second group and drags Juanjo Cobo with him. It looks like the climb is hurting some of the top favorites, who are not able to follow. As the leading trio go through the 1 kilometer mark Kiserlovski and Cobo are losing 35 seconds; Gesink, Garzelli, Ruijgh, Andy Schleck and Nieve are losing 55'' and Bart de Clercq is 1' 10'' behind the leaders.
David Lopez takes off already inside the last kilometer and has no response from Ten Dam or Stetina. He is gaining 12 seconds on them with 500 meters remaining while the gap to Kiserlovski and Cobo stays at 35 seconds. It is going to be the stage and the leader's jersey for the Spaniard.
David Lopez wins in Vallter 2000! The Spaniard was unstoppable today in the last climb and deservedly takes his first win of the season. This being the first relevant day for the GC he also takes the leader's jersey. Lopez was able to gain 22 seconds over Peter Stetina and Laurens Ten Dam in the last kilometer.
The top 5 of the stage was completed by Robert Kiserlovski and Juanjo Cobo, who lost 43 seconds. Meanwhile, the group of 5 chasers lost 1' 07''. It was a big loss for Nieve, Ruijgh or Schleck but fortunately for they tomorrow's stage is even harder and they will have the chance to make up for some of the time they lost today.
One mountain-top finish follows another one as the riders tackle the queen stage of the Volta a Catalunya 2014. The route today is very mountainous, especially in the last 60 kilometers with the climbs to the Port del Canto and Port Aine, where the stage finishes. However, the climbing will not be limited to that as the stage is a continuous up and down. The GC will probably be much clearer today and maybe we can put a name to the winner of the GC.
The first serious climbing of the day was the Alt de Pedraforca, 143 kilometers from the finish line. A group of 5 had already been formed: Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar), Maarten Tjallingii (Ag2r), Carlos Barredo (Vacansoleil), Beñat Intxausti (Katusha) and Sergey Firsanov (Lotto). It was the hardest day to form the break, as Euskaltel was bringing back any group with more than 5 riders. They had a gap of 3' 45'' at the top. Meanwhile, in the peloton it was Bradley Wiggins who took the KoM points.
Ryder Hesjedal, Bradley Wiggins and David Millar tried to bridge the gap to the break but go through the first intermediate sprint in La Seu d'Urgell 4 minutes behind the leaders. That also means that the intermediate sprints will not play a big role today as there are few points for the men in the bunch and the second intermediate sprint is after descending the Port del Canto. In the peloton BMC and Sky appeared ahead for a while but left the pace making to Euskaltel.
A surprising attack by Laurens Ten Dam awakened some of the favorites in the hard part of the Canto near the top. It was a brave move by the Dutch with 50 kilometers remaining. Jelle Vanendert was the only rider trying to follow but couldn't quite match the pace of the Cannondale rider. Euskaltel didn't panic though, knowing Ten Dam is 2 minutes behind and with a long time to organize the chase.
Belkin, Lampre and Discovery Channel all reacted a bit late to the movement by Ten Dam in the Port del Canto as the Dutch is already working in the descent with his teammate Ryder Hesjedal. Fortunately for them, there are still 44 kilometers to the finish line. The group of Ten Dam and Hesjedal is 1' 30'' behind the early break; Vanendert loses 2' 20'' and the main bunch is 4 minutes behind the leaders.
Sadly for Ten Dam his work with Hesjedal was nothing compared with the work in the main bunch and he was reeled back in at the first slopes of Port Aine. However, he was not going to let the race stop and attacked again as the pace slowed after they caught him. He got to the early break with 14 kilometers to the top as Scarponi and Rolland were setting the pace for the main group of 50 riders.
The early break and Ten Dam were quickly reeled back in. Mikel Nieve attacked early again today and dragged a group of 10 riders with him but with no Peter Stetina and Robert Kiserlovski. That meant that David Lopez was very keen on collaborating. However, BMC put George Hincapie to work in the back group, a great domestique to bring Stetina to the front again.
Hincapie's work was magnificent, but a soon as that dangerous group was caught Robert Gesink attacked and dragged David Lopez with him. The Spaniard surely feels good again today. They have a gap of 20 seconds on a group of 15 riders where the last rider to lose contact was Jelle Vanendert.
Robert Gesink could not follow David Lopez's pace and was dropped with 3 kilometers remaining. The gap to the group with the rest of favorites (12 riders) had already grown to 30 seconds and it was Juanjo Cobo and Peter Stetina doing most of the job now. The leader's pace is amazing and he is on the way to his second straight stage win in Catalunya.
The race broke apart in the last couple of kilometers as Lopez headed for victory. At the last kilometer mark he had 35 seconds on Stetina, Cobo and Andy Schleck; 55'' on Kiserlovski and Ruijgh; 1' 05'' on Gesink; 1' 25'' on Garzelli and 1' 40'' on a group with Mikel Nieve and Laurens Ten Dam. The Cannondale rider made a brave bet but it will pay no dividends to him today.
David Lopez wins in Port Aine! A tremendous show of power by the Spaniard, who might get his long deserved first major win in Catalunya this weekend. Peter Stetina attacked in the last kilometer and limited his losses to 32 seconds, confirming his second in the GC. Cobo and Andy Schleck lost 53 seconds at the finish line.
Among the disappointments today it has to be remarked the poor performance by Mikel Nieve. The Spaniard lost more than 2 minutes in the finish line and is 8th overall. Elsewhere, Robert Kiserlovski confirmed that he is by far the best youngster in Catalunya and Lampre took the lead in the teams' classification.
Today's stage is much quieter than the previous two days in the Pyrenees. The stage has a general downhill tendency as the riders go down from the mountains. The only difficult point of the day is the Port d'Ager, but placed in the middle of the stage it should not pose much of a problem for the sprinters. Today should be the last chance for the sprinters, so they must take it.
The start of the stage was very quiet and a group of 5 riders broke away soon. The members of the break were Juan Antonio Flecha (Movistar), Bradley Wiggins (Katusha), Sylvain Chavanel (Ag2r), Jan Barta (Lampre) and Moreno Moser (Cannondale). At the Port d'Ager (76 kilometers to go) they had a nice gap of 6' 10'' over the main bunch. The sprint was contested between Flecha and Wiggins and the Spaniard took the 10 points on offer to come within 1 point of Jonathan Tiernan-Locke in the mountains classification.
The main bunch started to pick up the pace ahead of the second intermediate sprint in Alfarras (27 km to go). Before that, Rob Ruijgh had crashed in the descent of the Port d'Ager without consequences. The first sprint of the day was won by Chris Sutton in the bunch but this time it was Matthew Goss ahead of Kenny van Hummel and Denis Galimzyanov. The gap of the break had dramatically decreased to 1 minute by then.
Bradley Wiggins put a late effort to try and win the stage but he was eventually caught by the bunch with 5 kilometers to go. Vacansoleil is already starting to form their sprint train. Peter Sagan seems to be working today for Chris Sutton as the last lead-out man for the Australian.
Lotto is again the main threat to the dominant train with the John Degenkolb - Matthew Goss duo. It is Vacansoleil that has taken the responsibility to drive the bunch and it is already clear that Sagan will work for Sutton. Among the other sprinters, Lloyd Mondory has taken Sutton's wheel and Tony Gallopin is behind the Lotto train.
Peter Sagan looks to be really strong and he almost left Chris Sutton behind when he started sprinting. Lloyd Mondory is still behind the Australian but Tony Gallopin and Jure Kocjan are not far behind. However, Lotto has disappointed today as Goss lost many places. John Degenkolb is always the only man to prepare the sprint for him and sometimes the work is too much for him.
Chris Sutton finally emerged from behind Peter Sagan with 700 meters remaining. The Australian has started really strong his sprint and is not giving Lloyd Mondory a chance to gain meters on him. Peter Sagan is still third but already dropping after setting it up for Sutton. The fourth place, Tony Gallopin, seems to be already far from getting the win. However, he still has to add points to defend his green jersey.
Chris Sutton wins in Lleida! The Australian was very dominant in the sprint and never gave Lloyd Mondory a chance to overtake for the stage win. Both of them were well ahead of the rest of the sprinters, as Tony Gallopin was third and the Lotto riders Matthew Goss and Jelle Vanendert completed the top 5. It is not that surprising to see Vanendert there considering the lack of sprinters in the Volta.
The point's competition and the stage were the points of interest in today's stage. Tony Gallopin added 30 points to his tally and continues to lead 21 points ahead of Chris Sutton. Considering the lack of mass sprints that are remaining the French could well have settled this competition.
The days for the sprinters are over in the Volta a Catalunya and today we have a tricky stage finishing in Valls. The first half of the day will be very easy, but in the second part we could see some movements from the favorites looking to gain places in the GC. The Alt de Lilla is only 10 kilometers from the finish line, so if some riders are ahead going through the top they will have to have good legs to make it to the finish without being caught.
The break of the day was soon established. Euskaltel didn't allow a big group to go away but was happy when 6 non dangerous riders opened a gap. By the first intermediate sprint of the day in Alcarras, 30 kilometers into the stage, they had opened a gap of 4 minutes already. The most important riders in the break were Maarten Tjallingii (Ag2r), Jakob Fuglsang (Vacansoleil), Tom Danielson (Belkin) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre). In the main bunch Tony Gallopin won the sprint ahead of Matthew Goss and Simone Ponzi to increase his lead in the points' classification.
No team really wanted to chase and the main bunch was having a day off. The pace up the first climb of the day, the Alt de Prades, was not really demanding and with 64 kilometers remaining the break's gap was 7' 30''. It looks like today's stage is going to the early break. Surprisingly, the fight for the few mountain points remaining was very quiet, with only Bradley Wiggins attacking to get them. Considering the narrow margin of Tiernan-Locke at the top of this classification it is strange no one else moved.
The peace in the leading group broke as soon as they reached the last difficulty of the day, the Alt de Lilla. Beñat Intxausti and Tom Danielson attacked at the base of the climb and 3 kilometers to the top they had opened a small gap of 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the group. Meanwhile, the drama was on the Discovery Channel team as Mikel Nieve had crashed in the last descent and even though his whole team had stopped to help him recover he was losing 1' 30'' on the main bunch.
Danielson and Intxausti were caught again by the other 4 members of the break and surprisingly they start the descent towards Valls together. In truth, only Maarten Tjallingii seems to be one step ahead of the other riders in this break but the Dutch did not try to go away. At the same time the peloton had just started climbing and there were already several attacks by Juanjo Cobo, Andy Schleck, Laurens Ten Dam and Robert Kiserlovski.
The 4 riders that attacked go through the top of the climb while the break is already within 7 kilometers of the finish line. They have a gap of 25 seconds on David Lopez, who jumped alone in order to catch them, and 40 seconds over other group of favorites. Rob Ruijgh does not seem to be having a good time, as he is not even in that second group. The news from Mikel Nieve are not good, he is already losing 3 minutes and the chances are he will lose his top 10 spot at the finish line if it continues this way.
There were no attacks in the break in the flat section towards Valls and they look set to fight for the stage in the final sprint. Beñat Intxausti is the first to go and behind him come Scarponi, Fuglsang and Santambrogio. The Italian from Cannondale should be the quickest in the group, but it will be a close battle. Among the chasers, David Lopez reached the group of 4 while Peter Stetina is losing 30 seconds. Belkin is pulling hard from a bigger group behind to try and bring Ruijgh back with the best.
Mauro Santambrogio takes the first place as they get into the last 600 meters of the stage. He is closely followed by Scarponi, Tjallingii and Danielson. Intxausti seems to have wasted all his energy in his previous attack and Fuglsang is not looking good either.
Michele Scarponi wins in Valls! This is the first win of the year for Lampre and Scarponi. The other Italian of the break, Santambrogio, was supposed to be the quickest but probably his inexperience did not help him. In the end, the Lampre rider turned out to by the strongest by a good margin. Scarponi's last win had been 5 years ago in the Paris - Nice, so this is quite an achievement for the Italian. Tom Danielson was second in the stage while Maarten Tjallingii completed the podium.
A great effort by the group of 4 that attacked in the Alt de Lilla gave no reward as all of them ended up being caught by a charging group led by Belkin. Rob Ruijgh did not have a good time climbing but he could rely on his team to bring him back with the best. Peter Stetina won the sprint for the 7th place ahead of Juanjo Cobo in a group of around 75 riders.
The loser of the day was obviously Mikel Nieve. The Spaniard lost more than 3 minutes in the finish line and dropped to the 11th place in the GC. A short stage with a tricky circuit around the castle of Montjuic is all that is left in this year's Volta. David Lopez looks set to take his first major win barring any crashes or technical problems.
The last stage of the Volta a Catalunya is not supposed to provide any significant changes in the GC. It is a short stage of only 125 kilometers with a short circuit around the castle of Montjuic. The outcome of the stage is difficult to predict, as it depends a lot on the attitude of the riders. The group that makes it to the finish could be big or could be very small. All that considering that a break does not win, something not very unlikely considering that a mass sprint is almost discarded.
A group of 4 riders was ahead at the second intermediate sprint in Casteldefells, Nacer Bouhanni (Ag2r), Rinaldo Nocentini (Katusha), Alberto Contador (Movistar) and Thibaut Pinot (Discovery). They had a gap of only 2 minutes on the main bunch, where Kenny van Hummel won the sprint. The Dutch had also won the first intermediate sprint of the day. However, Tony Gallopin was sprinting to get some points and guarantee the points' jersey.
Lotto, BMC and Belkin were the teams most interested in chasing once the riders reached the circuit of Montjuic. At the fourth climb of the castle, 32 km to go, there were already quite big names making the pace, such us Dries Devenyns and Steven Kruijswijk. However, the chances of the break were not over yet as the gap was still 2' 25''. Before this climb Cameron Meyer had crashed without consequences and easily rejoined the bunch with the help of Pierre Rolland.
A failed attempt of Alberto Contador and Roberto Nocentini was the prelude of a very strong attack from Laurens Ten Dam when the break was about to be caught. The attack was quite successful and the Cannondale rider entered the last turn with a few seconds over the bunch. It is difficult to say if it will be enough to be a threat for the stage win.
The pace of the main bunch was not enough to catch Ten Dam in the last climb to Montjuic, even though Robert Kiserlovski was the one doing all the pacing. In fact, with 20 seconds in his hand a win by the Dutch looks increasingly likely. Other riders like Andy Schleck and Rob Ruijgh tried to open a gap in the last ascent but no one was strong enough.
Laurens Ten Dam has a big enough gap to take the stage win as he is already in the last part of the descent. He has been the most attacking rider in this week's of racing so it would be a great reward for the attacking cycling. Behind him, Robert Kiserlovski, Jurgen van den Broeck and Igor Anton are leading the bunch in the descent.
Robert Kiserlovski jumped from the main bunch in a crazy descent and opened a small gap with the rest of the bunch, but it was hopeless as Laurens Ten Dam was already close to celebrating his stage win. Among the chasers were Jurgen van den Broeck, Kenny van Hummel and Igor Anton. It is remarkable for Van Hummel to have got past the numerous climbs and be in the first places of the bunch.
Laurens Ten Dam wins in Barcelona! If anyone deserved this win in the Volta it was none other than Ten Dam. The Dutch rider has been in an attacking mode all week and gets a deserved reward. Robert Kiserlovski came second while the sprint for the third place was really close as Stetina took it ahead of Rob Ruijgh and David Lopez.
This interesting stage in Barcelona puts an end to the Volta. David Lopez has taken his first major win in his career and this will probably free up his mind in bigger races. He will be surrounded by Peter Stetina and Juanjo Cobo in the final podium. The points' jersey will go to Tony Gallopin and the mountains' one to Jonathan Tiernan-Locke.
