Axel Laurance (Alpecin-Deceuninck) won the fifth level of the Volta a Catalunya by beating Marijn van den Berg (EF Education-EasyPost) and Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) in a bumpy race in Viladecans.
The win is the second win of the season for the 22-year-old after a season at Étoile de Bessèges, and his first at WorldTour Point in his first season in the most sensible flight.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s my first year in the WorldTour team, so to be able to gain a level in a WorldTour race in my first year in the WorldTour is nice, that’s for sure,” said Laurance.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) took it to another level at the top of the Volta a Catalunya, even briefly mingling with the sprinters in the final 500 metres before sitting down wisely.
With two more stages, he leads the general classification, by issues and in the mountains.
Mikel Landa (Soudal-Quickstep) finished safely in the peloton and remains in second place overall with 2:27, while Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) remains third with 2:55.
Pogačar ruled the summit finals of Levels 2 and 3, but said today’s level is more challenging.
“I think it’s one of the toughest stages of all so far, one of the most offensive from an offensive point of view. It’s an exciting race all the way to the final, and I’m glad it’s over. “
He now faces the last two unpredictable stages: a shorter summit finish in Queralt with five main climbs on Saturday and the tough circuits of Barcelona to close out the race.
“I’m ahead for tomorrow’s stage. It’s a big question mark because there are some very steep climbs and a lot of climbs in a short amount of time. It’s going to be very competitive from the start and a lot can happen. “”.
The fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya, 167. 3 km, from Altafullos Angeles to Vilos angelesdecans, had two category 2 passes: the Coll de les Ventoses after 64. 9 km of running and the Alt de los angeles Creu d’Aragall with 30 km to go.
There was an intense war for the breakaway, with Herold Tejada (Astana) and Idar Andersen (Uno-X) starting as soon as the flag fell. When they were captured, a group of six other people fled, while three others ran in.
Although Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), the most productive, was 8:08 ahead of leader Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), the boomerang separatist organization and, with 40km to go, the peloton dropped back.
The scenario remained the same in the intermediate sprint, where García Cortina took the three-second bonus, followed by his teammate Enric Mas, with two seconds, and Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) with one second.
We then headed to the Coll de les Ventoses, still all together, when Attila Valter (Visma-Lease a Bike) took the lead. Then his teammate Steven Kruijswijk pounced on the uncategorized climb that followed, but he too recovered immediately.
On the descent, five riders escaped and the breakaway, despite everything, escaped with 85km to go.
The quintet includes Oscar Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Jacopo Mosca (Lidl-Trek), Enzo Paleni (Groupama-FDJ), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost) and Christopher Juul-Jensen (Jayco-AlUla).
They gained 2:30 from race leader Pogačar and, although Paleni was the highest of the five in the general classification, more than 29 minutes behind Pogačar, the peloton kept that gap to the maximum and narrowed with the terrain.
Speaking of Paleni, he had a challenge with his boot and had to replace it on the fly while his team mechanic kept him in the car, but the breakaway in a different way went smoothly.
Their merit was reduced to less than a minute as they approached the final climb of the Creu d’Aragall of the Alt de los Angeles, a 6. 5km climb that climbs up to 13% in Los Angeles.
Steinhauser attacked at the base of the climb, breaking the breakaway. Rodriguez continued his run and met the EF rider halfway up the climb, the gap to the peloton reduced to 17 seconds.
After Rodriguez led the climb, the peloton overtook the duo, who gave up in one fell swoop before settling into the wake.
Valter attacked with 14km to go, but was temporarily halted by the peloton. Then, Valentin Paret Peintre attacked, keeping five riders away. Sensing the danger, other riders tried to close the gap, and soon there were 8 leaders, but they may not have reached the speed of the chasing peloton.
A small peloton regrouped Israel-Premier Tech, waiting for the sprint. With speed slowing down, the rest of the peloton joined with 5km to go.
Alpecin-Deceuninck led everything to the finish, with race leader Pogačar staying close to the lead. Van den Berg tried to make two, but Laurance held on by a narrow margin to win the stage.
Results generated through FirstCycling
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Laura Weislo has been running at Cyclingnews since 2006 after leaving a career in science. As editor-in-chief, she coordinates North American events policy and global news. Laura, a former elite racer who tried cyclocross and the track, is passionate about everything. 3 disciplines. When he runs, he enjoys camping and exploring the roads and paths less traveled. Laura specialises in doping, anti-doping, UCI governance and knowledge analysis policy.
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