photo credits @ VaC
Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike) claimed his second consecutive win in the Volta a Catalunya today, after the Slovenian rider soloed to victory atop the Santuari de Queralt.
Isolated from his teammates, Vingegaard decided to attack during the last few kilometers, quickly vanquishing a select group of riders who were being led by Remco Evenepoel to further strengthen his grip on the overall race title.
Indeed, Vingegaard accelerated sharply towards the end of the climb, leaving just Evenepoel able to respond, while Florian Lipowitz and Lenny Martinez were easily dropped as they tried to stay on terms.
From there, Vingegaard jettisoned Evenepoel not far from the summit, leaving the Belgian rider to struggle in his wake.
Earlier in the stage, a sizable group of fifteen riders containing the likes of Mattia Cattaneo, Richard Carapaz, Giulio Ciccone, Ramses Debruyne, Damien Howson, Andreas Leknessund, Bart Lemmen, Rudy Molard, Byron Munton, Nairo Quintana, Andrea Raccagni, Marc Soler, Jake Stewart, Embret Svestad-Bårdseng and Diego Uriarte formed the day’s first breakaway effort.
However, at the start of the climb of the Collada de Sant Isidre, only Ciccone and Carapaz remained at the front, as Red Bull, working for Lipowitz, upped the pace considerably in a 30-strong peloton.
Ciccone eventually shed Carapaz, while Evenepoel later moved to the front of the chase.
With 17 kilometers to go, Ciccone decided to throw in the towel, while Evenepoel continued to lead the chase, with Lipowitz, Vingegaard, Valentin Paret-Peintre (Soudal-QuickStep), Carapaz, Martinez and Afonso Eulálio closely marking his move.
With 2.5 kilometers remaining from the summit, Vingegaard executed his winning move, rapidly distancing Evenepoel, to all but assure him the overall victory ahead of tomorrow’s final stage.
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