Volta a Catalunya stage 6: Carapaz wins tough climbing stage, Higuita takes GC lead after two-up break

Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers) outkicked breakaway companion Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) for stage honors in a grey, grizzly day in the medium mountains of Volta a Catalunya.

The South American duo kicked away early in the explosive start to Saturday’s tough climbing stage and built out a huge lead over the peloton before sprinting for the flowers in Cambrils.

Kaden Groves (BikeExchange-Jayco) won the kick for third, 48 seconds after Carapaz’s lunge for victory.

Higuita now takes the leader’s jersey ahead of the typically agressive final stage in Barcelona on Sunday, with Carapaz 16 second back in second overall.

Overnight GC leader João Almeida (UAE Emirates) finished with close rival Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic) in the main group of chasers. The two slide down to third and fourth respectively.

🏆 ETAPA 6 / STAGE 6

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Carapaz and Higuita struck a truce throughout the day, working together committedly in the knowledge that both stood to gain from building as big a lead as possible.

There was not the same level of cohesion back in the peloton, where Almeida’s UAE Team Emirates was left to do most of the chasing, with no assistance coming from Arkéa-Samsic despite its captain Quintana trailing the Portuguese rider by just one second on GC.

Only on the finishing straight did the leading duo turn into rivals. Carapaz was patient, sitting on Higuita’s wheel, forcing him to lead out the sprint before coming around to take the stage victory as well as the all-important maximum bonus second.

Those bonus seconds weren’t quite enough for him to take the overall lead, however, as Colombian champ Higuita ends the day with a lead of 16-second over Olympic star Carapaz in second, and 52 and 53 seconds over Almeida and Quintana.

In what were cold, grey and drizzly conditions, Higuita and Carapaz used the hilly terrain at the start of the day to take the other GC contenders by surprise.

Accompanied by Carapaz’s teammate Luke Plapp, they reached the top of the category one Coll de les Llebres with a gap ahead of an alarmed group of chasers.

They stayed out front on the next climb, the category two Coll de Capafonts, and had a lead of around 1:30, even though Plapp (who abandoned later in the day) was unable to keep up with the pace and dropped back.

Although there were no more categorized climbs for a while after that, the undulating terrain that followed still proved favorable to Carapaz and Higuita, whose lead continued to grow until it had exceeded three minutes.

Work from Almeida’s UAE Team Emirates at the front of the group of chasers — in which the rest of the top-seven on GC were present — was enough to keep it there, but failed to make any inroads, with Marc Soler left to do most of the pulling on his own.

Only after a cold-looking Soler was dropped, and when, at 40km to go, UAE Team Emirates was given assistance by Uno-X, did the gap start to come down again.

It had dipped to just over two minutes by the start of the day’s final climb, the category two Coll de la Teixeta.

Bahrain-Victorious was the next to lead the chase with Hermann Pernsteiner on the climb, but he was unable to eat any more into the deficit, and by the summit, the gap remained at two minutes.

On the descent, Alemida’s teammate Juan Ayuso went clear from the rest of the peloton, and made significant inroads until the deficit to himself and the leading duo was down to 1:10.

However, as the gradient eased up so did he, and with 13km to go he was absorbed by another group of six that had formed on the descent ahead of the peloton, featuring Quintana, Christian Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), and Bahrain-Victorious trio of Wout Poels, Dylan Teuns and Pernsteiner.

This group and the peloton engaged in a hard-fought chase with each other as the finish approached but the peloton eventually caught them with just 2km remaining.

Their deficit to Carapaz and Higuita had come down to 48 seconds by the finish, but the losses sustained on GC were still very significant, and may prove decisive ahead of tomorrow’s testing final stage in Barcelona.