And here we are for the final and deciding stage of the Volta a Catalunya. Yellow jersey Mas clearly liking Catalunya so far but one off day could mean he loses his jersey. Let’s find out what happens quickly.
It takes a while before the break is formed, but now we see 14 riders with a 3’ gap as they start the Alt de Bracons climb of first category. We spot polka-dot wearer Hecht, Salinas, Johannessen, Savini, Ratiy, Shapira, Lietaer, Umerbekov, Lovik, Palini, Craddock, Martin, Gillett and Schleck.
First Johannessen gets dropped and now we see Hecht losing touch with the leading group as well. He needs to hope the others divide the KoM-points as much as possible.
Palini takes sixteen points ahead of Craddock, which sees the Strava rider only ten points behind the first place in the KoM-classification. 120 km to the finish line as the peloton is 6’30” behind at the top. Rivera doing the work there at the moment.
Around 100 km left as the riders tackle the next climb of first category, the Alt de Coubet. 13 km at a very regular 5.5% all throughout the climb. Schleck having trouble as well, which sees the leading group reduced to eleven riders. The peloton already back at 4’30”.
The peloton is not taking it easy on the climb! 3 km to the top as thanks to the work of Trans Looney Tunes and Volcanica – Fox a peloton of 64 is 2’45” behind the race lead.
Palini the strongest again, taking the KoM-lead! Craddock in second just as earlier, whereas the two Eddie Stobart boys take third and fourth at the top. Despite the attacks, the peloton still around 2’50”. 88 km to the finish line as Lavery (24th), Pavlic (17th) and Henao (23rd) are all dropped together, making this a stage to forget for Tafjord Kraft.
Lietaer and Savini currently dropped from the leading group, which means there are nine men left at the head of the race. They start climbing the Alt de La Creueta (HC) in 14 km officially, but as they are already going uphill this means they now have 33.5 km left to climb until the top! The peloton of 55 still around the 3’ mark of the race lead.
15 km to the top of the Alt de La Creueta now, as the gap between the nine leaders and the peloton has shrunk to 2’15”. All because of Volcanica – Fox, as the Costa Ricans have one of their riders in the first position of the peloton of all times now, must have been over 20 km since another team took the lead here.
Trans Looney Tunes did not like what I said, as they immediately take over with three riders. 52 km to the finish line and 12 km to the top of this HC mountain as the nine leaders are now 1’30” ahead of the peloton, which exists out of 47 riders.
The wheat is being separated from the chaff on all fronts now! Only five riders remaining in the leading group with 4.3 km to climb: Salinas, Lovik, Craddock, Shapira and Gillett! Biggest victim in the peloton so far is Hacecky (18th).
Diaz (8th) does not want to wait until the final mountain of the day and attacks in the peloton! Martin (13th) following him, and Azman tries to do the same thing!
At the head of the race we see Shapira taking the maximum of the KoM-points ahead of Craddock, Salinas and Lovik, with Gillett already 1’30” behind in fifth. Diaz and Martin cross the top an additional 20” later, which is a minute ahead of the peloton of 24! 40 km to the finish line!
What follows is a long descent. As the four leaders go under the 10km banner and are close to starting La Molina, last climb of this Volta a Catalunya, Lovik tries to surprise his companions with an early attack! 50” behind the leading four are Gillett, Diaz and Martin, and then the peloton is at an additional 35”. White jersey and number 14 in the GC McNulty was unable to follow the rest of the favourites in the descent though.
Shapira attacks right after the Lovik move, which sees the Eddie Stobart out of contention for the stage win. 7.5 km left! The La Molina climb is 8.6 km long and has an average percentage of 5.5%, with the steeper parts near the end. The group Diaz currently at 40” of the race lead, the peloton at an additional 20”.
Around 16 people left in the group of favourites, as green jersey Paez (6th GC) has been dropped! Meanwhile Martin is trying to close the gap towards the leading trio, where Craddock might be of use to the Irish national champion!
Martin indeed makes it four at the front with 5.5 km to climb, but a bit further behind we see Iino (2nd) attacking! Amador (4th) and yellow jersey Mas following him so far, and that is what Diaz is also trying to do. His teammate Potocki (3rd) is a bit behind, but still has Battaglin, De Vos, Heymes and Gaspar around him.
Martin instructs teammate Craddock to give everything he has, and that is exactly what he does! Together with Shapira and Salinas they have a 40” gap over the three favourites (and Lovik) with 4 km to go, as the HelloFresh boys and other GC riders such as Kozhatayev, Kuss and Roson follow at an additional 25”!
Aha, there is the attack from Martin! Salinas still able to follow the Glanbia rider though, with 2.5 km to the finish line! Shapira at 20” and the three favourites at an additional 30”. De Vos trying to save Potocki’s podium at the moment!
And Potocki should be very grateful as De Vos actually brings his group back to the yellow jersey group! These ten riders now 30” behind Shapira and Craddock and almost a minute behind Martin and Salinas. The Gjensidige rider not taking over, is he out of energy or just playing some poker?!
1.5 km to the finish line! Martin and Salinas still in the lead, but De Vos is going really hard, reducing the gap to only 35”! The Canadian really flying, which sees Kuss and Roson dropped in the chasing group!
As De Vos reduces the gap to only 18” under the flamme rouge, Kozhatayev is having trouble holding on! His fifth place in the GC should be fine, though. Unless De Vos keeps pacing like a mad man until the finish line.
Olala! Half a km left and just as Martin and Salinas seem to be getting caught, yellow jersey Mas is in trouble! 500 meters of suffering to win the Volta a Catalunya!
Have a look at that! Martin starting his sprint, and he seems to be acting as a lead-out for Craddock, who worked so hard for him earlier! 300 meters left!
Glanbia once, Glanbia twice … sold?! Two Glanbia riders at the head of the race with 100 meters to go, surely this can’t go wrong anymore?! Yellow jersey Mas virtually in yellow by only ten seconds!
Breakaway rider Craddock takes the stage ahead of other breakaway rider Salinas (2nd) and Martin (3rd)! Potocki (4th), Amador (5th) and Iino (6th) finish in the same time, with Shapira (7th) a bit behind.
A very strong De Vos finishes in eighth today, but the surprise of the day is that Mas loses the yellow jersey! He finishes at around a minute of the first group, which means Iino wins the Volta a Catalunya!
