Volta a Catalunya winner Jonas Vingegaard has said that he suffered but did not come anywhere near breaking point as he racked up his sixth World Tour stage race victory after a fast and furious final day across the climbs of Barcelona's Montjuic Park.
The winner of the two toughest mountain stages and by far the strongest rider allround, Vingegaard ended a race sometimes so close it's decided by bonus seconds, with a 1:20 advantage over closest rival Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious).
The much-touted GC duel against Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) fizzled out before it really started after the Belgian crashed on stage 3, but Vingegaard's superiority in the mountains in any case has been unquestioned all the way through the Pyrenees. One stage summit finish had to be cancelled on stage 4, because of bad weather, but it's unlikely it would have made any difference.
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After stage 7, Vingegaard told reporters that he had had a tough final day as Evenepoel and his teammates piled on the pressure, but finally he came through unscathed.
"It¡'s true they put me under big pressure, luckily legs to answer them, they attacked one by one at one point, but I could keep my leader's jersey."
Overall, Vingegaard came out of the Volta with his position as Giro d'Italia favourite more than intact, and he can now go into the next step of his build-up feeling very confident indeed.
"Historically, it's always been a preparation race for the GIro and that's also why I'm here," VIngegaard confirmed, "as well as being a big race in itself, I always want to win this race, too."
"My shape is good, without being at my very best yet," he said in an ominous warning for the Giro rivals. "I'm optimistic for the Giro, that I'll be at a very, very high level there."
"I can get quite a bit better, I think, but time will tell."
Although there will be no further racing for Vingegaard now before May, adding a major event like Catalunya to his palmares in his first time participation constitutes a major success in itself.
There's no question, either, that whilst Catalunya continues to bolster Vingegaard as the main name for May, it also ensures he strengthens his status as Tadej Pogačar's standout key rival for the Tour de France.
That may be further down the line, of course, but thanks to Catalunya - where the Tour will hold its first stage in Barcelona in the same Montjuic Park as where the Volta finished - UAE Team Emirates-XRG leader will have received their latest reminder that the Dane is very much up for the fight for the summer, too.
"Obviously, my next race is the Giro, that's the first goal, but then the Tour is also a big goal there. We start here in Barcelona too, I really enjoy this area, too," Vingegaard said.
"I've had a great start to the year, winning both in Paris-Nice and in Catalunya gives me confidence for what's coming up."
