Third stage win for Mezgec in Catalunya

Luka Mezgec (Giant-Shimano) scored his third stage win of three bunch sprints on Friday as he outpowered a front peloton of around 40 riders in Valls to clinch what was arguably his most impressive victory yet in the Volta a Catalunya. And on Saturday, with another bunch sprint finish all but certain, a fourth is very possibly in the pipeline.

On Friday, like the rest of the peloton, the Slovenian had to get through the longest stage of the Volta - 220 kilometres of mostly hilly terrain, albeit in much warmer weather than Thursday - and the second category climb of Lilla close to the finish. However, his all-out acceleration in the final kilometre was simply unmatchable, with Julian Alaphilippe (Omega Pharma - Quick Step) more than two bike lengths back in second - and only narrowly outpacing former Volta stage winner Samuel Dumoulin (AG2R La Mondiale).

“It was a hard day, yesterday’s [Thursday’s] stage was a little bit cold and that second category climb did some damage, so I didn’t know if the whole bunch was left,” Mezgec told reporters afterwards.

“I had no idea if I could win today because of that final climb, so that’s why we had a guy in the break” - Georg Preidler, part of a group of eight that went clear early on which then shrank to the Austrian and former Ghent-Wevelgem winner Marcus Burghardt (BMC). “I was the plan B. for today” Mezgec added, “ I didn’t start the stage hoping I could win.”

Once over the second category climb, Mezgec said he knew he had a good chance. “It was a question of waiting until 200 metres and then going for it.” The slight uphill gradient in the town of Valls “didn’t favour me specially, I like all kinds of sprints, not just when there’s a bit of a climb.”

The presence of one Albert Contador in sixth place in the bunch sprint was not as surprising as it looked - with a bunch reduced by three dozen because of the climb and time bonuses of ten, six and four seconds on offer and just four seconds separating the Madrileño from the race leader Rodríguez, Contador was almost duty bound to try. And it was not the first time on stage five that the Tinkoff-Saxo leader had chanced his arm.

With the eight-man breakaway reeled in shortly before the broad, wellsurfaced ascent of Lilla, with around two kilometres to go a series of attacks first launched by Ryer Hesjedal (Garmin-Sharp), continued by Lieuwe Westra (Astana) and then by Alberto Contador himself briefly unsettled the front end of the pack.

“I knew it was going to happen and that he would go for it,” Rodriguez said afterwards, “it wasn’t such a big surprise and I was able to sort it out.” Another move by Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) on the broad, fast 90kmh descent looked more likely to work, but with five kilometres to go, he was reeled in by the front group and a sprint became all but inevitable.

Whilst Saturday’s 172 kilometre, largely flat stage from El Vendrell to Vilanova i la Geltru looks almost certain to end in a sprint, the overall looks likely to come down to Sunday’s final stage and its eight laps - and eight ascents of the third category climb - of a highly technical circuit in the Montjuic park in Barcelona.

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