Quintana wins Volta a Catalunya

Nairo Quintana (Movistar) has become the third Colombian to win the Volta a Catalunya on Sunday, with the stage victory on a hilly final stage through Montjuic Park in Barcelona going to Katusha’s Alexei Tsatevich, one of the last survivors of a day-long break.

The attacks rained down on Quintana on the eight circuits of the hilly six-kilometre Montjuic circuit, with Fabio Aru (Astana), second placed Alberto Contador (Tinkoff), Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), Hugh Carthy (Caja Rural) - ninth overall and Best Young Rider - Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) and Chris Froome (Team Sky) all amongst those attempting to wrench their way clear of Movistar’s grip on the race.

But although Aru opened a gap of 30 seconds at one point and Froome briefly left the rest of the pack reeling in his wake, the attacks cancelled each other out as the finish line steadily approached.

Finally the only alteration in the highest GC positions was Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), who snatched a bonus second early on in the stage in a hot spot sprint. As a result, Martin, already a stage winner and briefly the leader, moved up from fourth to third ahead of BMC Racing’s Richie Porte, Martin’s fourth top-three position in the Volta a Catalunya of his career.

The stage itself saw a break of 12 go clear early on, gaining a maximum advantage of 3:15 when they reached the first of the eight final laps of the Montjuic circuit.

Mallorca’s Lluis Mas (Caja Rural) was the first to go clear from the dozen leaders, with around 48 kilometres to go, followed by former U-23 World Champion Matej Mohoric (Lampre-Merida), whilst Contador briefly tested the water in the bunch a first time, without any effect. Fabio Aru’s drive clear, though, was much more effective, enabling the 2015 Vuelta a España winner to gain up to half a minute after Warren Barguil (Giant-Alpecin) and a perpetually aggressive Louis Vervaecke (Lotto-Soudal) bridged across.

Movistar gradually pegged back the difference but no sooner had they done so than Vasil Kiryenka (Team Sky) opened up the throttle, and Chris Froome followed up his teammate’s lead-out with a searing attack of his own. When Quintana finally reached the Briton with Contador, Martin, Rodriguez and Dani Navarro (Cofidis) in his wake, it looked briefly as if Quintana, isolated from his teammates, could be vulnerable.

But instead, as the leading group of favourites hesitated, the group once again swelled in size, only to see Carthy briefly having a go, but finally being swallowed up by the chasers.

Yet more brief digs followed, but as Mohoric was overtaken by Tcatevich for the stage win, Froome and Contador’s second challenges, followed by one last attack from Dan Martin and a longer move by Tejay van Garderen (BMC Racing) all failed to work out. Instead, Quintana crossed the line with his overall lead intact for his first stage race victory since Tirreno-Adriatico in 2015.

Quintana’s final margin of seven seconds is the four smallest in the 96 editions of the Volta a Catalunya, but ever since the Colombian moved into the lead on the stage to Port Ainé, the tide was flowing strongly in his favour.

The final three stages, none of them with exceptionally hilly terrain, made it difficult for the rest of the field to challenge the Colombian, who has become the first winner from Colombia of the race since Hernan Buenahora in 1998.

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