On Sunday Jonas Vingegaard wrapped up his first Volta a Catalunya title exactly two weeks after taking Paris-Nice. So far, Vingegaard and Isaac del Toro have each won two of the five WorldTour stage races. Sunday’s final stage of the 105th Volta a Catalunya took in the traditional punchy Barcelona route, where Brady Gilmore (Australia/NSN) prevailed over double stage winner Dorian Godon in a reduced bunch sprint.
Preliminaries
After his second consecutive win Vingegaard had a 1:22 buffer for his lead and it seemed unlikely that he could be budged. However, there was a tight podium fight, as 55 seconds separated second-place Lenny Martinez, third-place Florian Lipowitz, Valentin Paret-Peintre and Remco Evenepoel.
Last season, Primož Roglič used a slightly shorter version of the Barcelona stage to win the day and the race.
Canadian Michael Leonard didn’t start the final stage. Only Pier-André Côté remained of the four Canucks who started.
The Course
Sunday’s 95-km finale hinged on seven challenging circuits around Barcelona, each containing the Montjuïc climb that will feature in Stage 1 of July’s Tour de France.
Five riders including stage winner Magnus Cort managed to get away in the early kilometers and entered the first circuit with a 2:00 lead, but Montjuïc I trimmed it to 1:10. The escape wouldn’t survive Montjuïc III. Evenepoel attacked, bringing Vingegaard, Paret-Peintre, Martinez and Oscar Onley with him. Lipowitz and a few more bridged over.
Red Bull kept hitting Vingegaard with Evenepoel and Lipowitz, but the Dane held on until the group was brought back. The action stayed hot on Lap 4, so Visma-Lease a Bike seized the controls on the next circuit.
On the penultimate climb of Montjuïc, KOM leader Giulio Ciccone, mountains classification second place Marc Soler and Ben O’Connor went on an expedition. Ciccone scored the maximum points just as the peloton yanked back the move.
The peloton heard the bell intact. An Alpecin-Premier Tech rider bounced away on the Montjuïc, but Enric Mas led over the top with Onley on his six. Evenepoel charged down the hill. It appeared that it would be a reduced bunch sprint in Barcelona. NSN’s Brady Gilmore came around Darion Godon to win in the final reckoning.
The next WorldTour stage race is the…
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