Volta a Catalunya stage 6: Peter Sagan scores opening win of the season

Peter Sagan won the chaotic bunch sprint of stage 6 of Volta a Catalunya on Saturday.

Sagan powered his way back from fifth wheel as the accelerations started in the bunch gallop in Mataró, squeezing through the middle of a pair of riders before edging out Daryl Impey (Israel Start-Up Nation), who took second. Juan Sebastián Molano came up late to finish third.

“I feel great. I was hoping for a win,” Sagan said after the race. “We made a plan to control the race at the start of the day, and I have to say thanks to all my teammates. They controlled the race from the start to the end. It was a very fast race today.”

The victory was the first of the Slovak’s season after a year complicated by a bout of COVID and long quarantine period in early February. The win comes well-timed for the former world champ as he sets his sights on the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix in the next two weekends.

“The race was hard from the start of the week,” Sagan said. “After Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo without a longer break, to come here, I’m a bit tired now, but I’m very happy for this victory. It’s a good start to the season, especially what passed in the two months before I came here. It was not easy, but now it all looks nice.”

Also read: Dear cycling, please don’t forget Peter Sagan

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Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) finished safely in the bunch to retain the race lead with an advantage of 45 seconds over nearest rival Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). Ineos Grenadiers retain their sweep of the podium with Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas sitting second and third respectively.

American contenders Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) and Brandon McNulty (UAE Emirates) both finished without problem to maintain their 9th and 15th-places on GC with one stage remaining.

Final climb sees attacks

Final breakaway rider Dmitry Strakhov (Gazprom-RusVelo) was scooped up by the bunch ahead of the short final climb of the Alt El Collet at 15km to go, at which point James Knox (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) started a flurry of attacks out of the peloton. The moves were all brought back by UAE Emirates and Bora Hansgrohe as they looked to set up a sprint.

Rémi Cavagna (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) caught the bunch off-guard with a hard push off the sinuous descent off the 3km hill, riding to a 10-second lead only to be caught in the final drag into downtown Mataró as the sprinter’s teams looked to set up the final gallop.

What’s next:

The race wraps up with a 134km stage based in Barcelona on Sunday.

After a hilly start outside of the city, the peloton will complete laps of a downtown circuit featuring a short hill that hits 15 percent at its peak. It makes for a tough final stage to the Volta, and Yates and his Ineos Grenadiers teammates will have to be on the alert in order to secure the Brit’s victory.

“It’s going to be a hard stage, I’ve done it a few times already and we all know it’s hard,” Yates said. “We have a nice buffer for first place, but second and third is not so secure, so we’ll see.”