Higuita secures Volta a Catalunya victory in Barcelona

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Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) secured the overall victory on the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya, finishing safely in a reduced lead group in Montjuïc Park in Barcelona to win his first WorldTour stage race.

Andrea Bagioli (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) took the win on stage 7, outsprinting Atilla Valter (Groupama-FDJ) and Fernando Barceló (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) at the line as the GC favourites finished among the lead group.

23-year-old Bagioli jumped off the wheel of Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) at 125 metres to go, and was unrivalled in the dash to the line, with Valter only able to race to the finish in the Italian's wheel.

The sprint finish drew a close to what was a typically hectic day of racing around the circuit in Montjuïc Park, with attacks coming from multiple GC contenders over the closing laps.

Despite attempts from second-placed Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) and third-placed João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), though, the top of the GC remained unchanged at the finish as the major contenders came home together.

How it unfolded

A grey but not excessively cold day in central Barcelona greeted the peloton for the last stage of racing, a short and very punchy 136 kilometre leg concluding with multiple laps of the Montjuïc Park. As the ravages of a harsh week of racing continue to have their effect, some teams like Lotto Soudal, were now squeezed down to just one rider, Sylvain Moniquet, for the final day's racing.

No sooner had the flag dropped than a break of 27 riders went up the road, with the heftily-sized moved including most of the main favourites except for Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic). And no sooner had that move been caught than another large breakaway sheered away, spearheaded by Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma).

The blistering pace began to take its toll as the peloton split into several chunks and Wout Poels (Bahrain Victorious), lying sixth overall, opted to abandon following, as his team somewhat delicately described it, "stomach issues."

Finally after over an hour of fraught racing, 12 riders managed to claw their way clear: Dylan Teuns (Bahrain Victorious), Giulio Ciccone and Antwan Tolhoek (Trek-Segafredo), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis), Dries Devenyns (Quick Step-AlphaVinyl), Henri Vandenabeele (DSM), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) and no less than three racers from Groupama-FDJ – Michael Storer, Sebastian Reichenbach and Quentin Pacher. Also present, despite skidding off the road at one point, was Kruijswijk.

The dozen escapees roared back into Barcelona and towards the six eight kilometre laps of the Montjuic circuit with roughly 90 seconds advantage, while Bora-hansgrohe kept matters undder control for race leader Higuita. Logically enough given their numerical advantage, Trek and Groupama-FDJ did the bulk of the spadework in the break, although collaboration was largely good throughout.

The sun had finally come out by the time the race reached the entrance into the Montjuic circuit, where Devenyns dropped back from the break. Just 40 seconds separated the head of affairs and the bunch as they tackled the circuit's steep and wildly irregular main climb, less than three kilometres long and averaging a comparatively benign 4.6 percent but with segments of up to 19 percent.

As the gap shrank on the undulating, technical circuit, Groupama realised it was a question of now or never and after a sudden acceleration by Pacher, Kruijswijk quickly joined the Frenchman in the front of the race. Their margin on the peloton, though, was still a scant 45 seconds.

Almost immediately after a quiet first lap, a ferocious increase in pace by UAE, notably Juan Ayuso and George Bennett ended the uneasy truce, shrinking the duo's advantage to just under a minute and shredding the pelton to 40 riders at most.

However by the third ascent of the six of the Montjuic climb the pace had gone out of the chase again, and while Astana-Qazakstan attempted to maintain a high pace, but in fact the race settled into a steady chase mode again.

25 kilometres from the finish, a counter-attack finally looked as if it would stick, as Joe Dombrowski (Astana Qazaqstan) and young Spanish racer Oier Lazkano (Movistar), joined by Simon Clarke (Israel-Premier Tech) and Devenyns began a more sustained pursuit. Finally, too, Ineos Grenadiers began to show their cards, thanks to Castroviejo and the Rodríguez opening up the throttle on the third last ascent of Montjuïc.

Several more riders, including Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) joined the lead group as the race sped towards the final 15 kilometres, but the break was over at the 13km mark as Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) tried a move on the second-last ascent of the Montjuïc climb. 

The Colombian was quickly brought back, however, while a few kilometres later it was his compatriot Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) who leapt away. His time off the front was a brief one, too, and the reduced lead group continued on as one over the unclassified lump following the descent from the Montjuïc hill.

Near the top of the final ascent, João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) made an acceleration which split up the group and surprisingly distanced Carapaz. On the way down, five men – Higuita, Almeida and his teammate Juan Ayuso, Ben O'Connor (AG2R Citroën), and Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X) were left out front, while Carapaz and the also-dropped Quintana quickly got back on.

O'Connor gave it a nudge as the group passed the Olympic stadium for the final time with 2.5km to go, but nobody would be able to get away so close to the finish. Instead, the chase group behind came back, making it 20 men up front for the finale.

Carlos Verona (Movistar) and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) launched the sprint to the line before fading, and it was the Italian Andrea Bagioli (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) who came through in the closing metres to claim the win, the fourth of his career.