Lopez secures Volta a Catalunya victory

Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana Pro Team) clinched one of the hardest-fought Volta a Catalunya races of recent years on Sunday after a tough final stage where the Colombian came under constant attacks but could finally cross the line victorious.

In the lead since he won on Wednesday’s second summit finish of the Volta, at La Molina, López went into Sunday’s traditionally fraught stage around the Montjuic park in Barcelona with a slender 14 second GC advantage over Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott).

Yates launched a devastating attack with 20 kilometres to go, opening up a margin of nearly 40 seconds, as he and his brother Simon, who worked ferociously alongside him, drove hard to stay clear.

The stage win finally went to lone breakaway Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe), claiming his team’s second victory in three days in the Volta, both from long-distance moves.

“I didn’t panic, the team didn’t panic and we got the win,” López said afterwards.

“It’s been a hard battle, but I was very motivated.” He dedicated the win to his wife and soon-to-be-born son.

The stage was blighted by a major crash in the finale, with Romain Bardet, Tony Gallopin (both AG2R-La Mondiale), Marc Soler (Movistar), Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) and Simon Geschke (CCC Team) amongst the dozen or so affected.

“We were coming down a descent at 70kph, and it all happened really fast,” Gallopin, whose shoulder took a bad blow, said later.

“I went spinning onto the pavement and my bike went over the top of me. Given how violent that all was, it could have been a lot worse.”

Whilst CCC said Geschke, one of the riders who stayed longest on the ground, had been taken to hospital for X-rays along with Garikotiz Bravo (Euskadi-Murias), Bardet has possible damage to his ribs and will have further check-ups next week.

The traditionally fast and furious stage around the Montjuic circuit started with 12 riders, including stage 1 breakaway winner Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal), gaining around two minutes before Mitchelton-Scott began to reel them in. De Gendt sealed his King of the Mountains classification on an early climb, but as soon as the race roared back into Barcelona and onto the Montjuic Park circuit Formolo went clear from the break.

After Chris Froome (Team Sky) did his almost-traditional early drive at the front of the pack, the action in a nervous-looking bunch kicked off when Quintana, fourth overall, went clear with half a dozen other riders, including Team EF’s Michael Woods. Briefly supported by teammate Carlos Verona (Movistar) and with Astana chasing behind, no sooner had Quintana’s move fizzled out than Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott), the winner last year, blasted away.

Rather than try and repeat his stage win of 2018, Simon Yates’ move was in fact designed to act as a bridge for brother and teammate Adam Yates, second overall, to come across. The two worked well together, with the presence of James Knox (Deceuninck-Quick Step), previously present in the break, briefly making for an all-British trio off the front behind Formolo.

Adam Yates then left his brother and Knox behind as the gap soared to roughly 40 seconds, despite Astana’s best efforts behind. It was only when Miguel Angel López took over, and then Pavel Sivakov (Team Sky) drove hard behind, that Yates dangerous breakaway began to lose any chance of staying away.

As Yates was reeled in, the last minute moves behind began, with Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) darting away to huge cheers but little effect, then Bernal and - again - Quintana - trying to dislodge López. But ‘Superman’ was determined not to let the GC go and after handling these moves in person, the Astana racer crossed the line in a group of 11 chasers, in 13th place, but with the overall win in the bag. Adam Yates finally had to settle for second and Bernal third, in what has proved to be a truly spectacular edition of the Volta a Catalunya.

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