Miguel Angel Lopez wins Tour Colombia 2.1

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Nairo Quintana (Movistar) took a solo victory on stage 6 at the Tour Colombia 2.1 in what turned out to be a thrilling battle between the Colombian climbers on the final ascent of the six-day race.

Quintana won the race on both strength and tactical experience, beating his younger compatriots Ivan Sosa (Team Sky), Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) and Egan Bernal (Team Sky) to the top of the iconic Alto las Palmas outside of Medellin.

It wasn't all for nothing for Lopez, who secured the orange jersey and the overall title. He won the race by four seconds ahead of runner-up Sosa and 42 seconds ahead of Daniel Martinez (EF Education First). Bernal finished fourth overall, with Quintana fifth.

How it unfolded

The final stage in Colombia earned the 'queen stage' moniker because of the daunting final climb up to Alto las Palmas outside of Medellin. The 15.5km category 1 climb started after 156km of racing and threw 933 metres of elevation gain at the riders before topping out at 2,480 metres above sea level.

Before the riders took on Las Palmas, however, they contested three intermediate sprints at 42.5km, 91.1km and 121.1km. Two KOMs were on offer before Las Palmas, with the category 4 climb of Alto Virgen at 47km and the category 4 Calle 38 Sur Parque climb at 148.8km.

The group stayed together past the first intermediate sprint, where Weimar Roldán from Team Medellin scored the maximum points and a three-second time bonus ahead of Steven Cuesta (Deprisa) and Nathan Brown (EF Education First).

The day's breakaway was established after the sprint, with Diego Ochoa, Wilmar Paredes (both of Manzana Postobón) Alex Cano (Coldeportes Zenú) and Edwin Avilla (Israel Cycling Academy) going clear.

The four-rider group had 3:30 on the field by the time Avilla claimed maximum sprint points at 91.1km, but the gap started coming down from there, and, with 35km remaining, the leaders had just 1:45 on the bunch as Paredes lost contact and faded back to the group.

By the time the lead quartet started the final 15km uphill march to the finish, the gap was down to just 26 seconds as Chris Froome went to the front of the peloton for Team Sky. The peloton reeled in the final two escapees with 13km to go, and the GC race was on in full, while lesser riders started attacking out of the field.

Kevin Rivera (Androni Giocattoli) got a gap and started working toward the finish, while Winner Anacona (Movistar) and Daniel Muñoz (Androni Giocattoli) set out after him and Team Sky continued to set the pace on the front of the peloton. With 9km to go, Rivera continued on the front alone, while Anacona dropped his companions and was closing in.

Astana's Miguel Angel Lopez attacked out of the field next and drew Movistar's Nairo Quintana with him, which in turn brought out Team Sky's Egan Bernal and EF Education First's Dani Martinez.

The group quickly reacted and brought the leaders back, but Quintana attacked again and Bernal was able to stick to his wheel. The duo reached Anacona, giving the advantage to Quintana. Martinez led the vastly reduced 'main' bunch chasing behind.

Overnight leader Julian Alaphilippe began to crack, and his hopes for an overall win cracked as well.

Team Sky's Iván Sosa bridged up to the group of Quintana, Bernal and Anacona. As Anacona faded, Quintana attacked again, briefly dropping the Sky duo, who worked together to get back on terms and catch Lopez, who had been solo up the road.

An excited fan got too close to the group and collided with the riders, knocking Quintana and Sosa off their bikes briefly. Bernal dropped back to drag Sosa back to Quintana with 4km to go, while Lopez continued on alone.

Quintana attacked again and dropped Bernal, leaving Quintana and Sosa to chase down Lopez. But it proved to all be a little too late, as Sosa dropped Quintana and got on terms with Lopez near the finish. A game of cat and mouse between the leading two then allowed Quintana to bridge back up, and he immediately attacked and soloed in for the win.

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