Two days after he scooped victory on stage five of the Volta a Catalunya, Frenchman Julien Simon sprinted to his second victory in the race. The Saur Sojasun rider was quickest at the end of an aggressively-raced 119.8 kilometre race between Badalona and Barcelona, beating Francesco Gavazzi (Astana), Damiano Cunego (Lampre ISD), Rigoberto Uran (Sky Procycling) and the rest of a large front group to the line.
First, second and first again in the past three stages, Simon was ecstatic with the results. "What happiness! For everyone, for the whole team. We all rode together before the last hill. At the top, I knew I had to be near the front. The guys encouraged me to be in the first fifteen. I made the descent flat out. With one kilometre to go, there was a chicane…I was able to get into the first ten there.
“After the right hand turn, I said to myself: ‘when you see the line, you have go to for it! I won and I could enjoy it. I think that this week we surprised a lot of people.”
Long-running race leader Michael Albasini rolled in as part of the same group and maintained his one minute 30 seconds lead over Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel Euskadi). The other general classification contenders were also in the same cluster of riders and Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol), Dan Martin (Garmin Barracuda) and Rigoberto Uran (Sky Procycling) ended up third, fourth and fifth.
The victory is the biggest of Albasini’s career, and continues a strong beginning to his GreenEdge team’s first season in the peloton. The Swiss rider won the opening two stages, then defended his lead from that point onwards.
"I need to thank the team for the work that they've done throughout the week," he said, savouring the result. "This is an important win for me personally and for the team. It would have been impossible without them."
Having started the day with a good buffer over the other riders, the team’s goal was to ensure that he was well placed heading into the finale. Directeur sportif Neil Stephens oversaw the result and explained how things played out.
"There was really no moment today when we were under terrible pressure," he said. "Those moments came earlier in the week. Today, we observed the different objectives of the other teams. When Garmin made their interests known, we let them ride on the front and took a secondary role.
“We knew all we needed to do was get Michael to the final climb. He started the day with a one minute 30 lead. Even if he had gotten into a bit of a trouble on the last climb, which he never did, it would have been unlikely for him to lose that much time."
Albasini said that he had strong support and that this was a factor in his final victory. "I had Daryl [Impey] with me on the final climb," he said. "He has been by my side throughout the entire week.”
Sanchez was psyched by yesterday’s stage victory and tried to take a flier on the final descent. Recognised in the bunch as being good going downhill, he floored it but was immediately marked by Dan Martin (Garmin Barracuda), then the other riders.
They kept tabs on him, preventing him from gaining any time. With Albasini tucked into the same group, it meant that the final challenge to his leader’s jersey was controlled.
“Each of my teammates did everything we asked them to do. They rode an incredible race, and I'm happy to pay them back by finishing off the job with the win,” the Swiss rider said.
Early move of nine riders:
In contrast to yesterday’s penultimate stage, the last day of the Volta a Catalunya looked set to be a tougher, more nervous affair and once which would ensure an animated finale to the race. It featured a jagged profile with three category three climbs, the Alt d'Ullastrell (km 50.2), the Alt Castellbisbal (km 69.1) and the Alt de Vallvidrera (km 114.8). The latter two were split by the second category Alt de Tibidabo (km 93.6), a well known climb overlooking Barcelona and featuring an amusement part at the summit.
124 riders lined out for this final stage including, of course, overnight leader Albasini, who was set for the biggest win of his career. He started the day one minute 30 seconds ahead of yesterday’s stage winner Samuez Sanchez (Euskaltel Euskadi) and a further two seconds ahead of Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto Belisol), Dan Martin (Garmin Barracuda), Rigoberto Uran (Sky Procycling) and ten others.
An aggressive start resulted in a break of nine riders, who broke the elastic six kilometres in. The attackers were Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Alexandr Dyachenko (Astana), Morris Possoni (Lampre), Stef Clement (Rabobank), Javier Ramírez (Andalucía), David De la Fuente and David de la Cruz (Caja Rural) plus the Katusha pair of Gatis Smukulis and Petr Ignatenko.
After 25 kilometres of racing, they had built a lead of one minute 35 seconds over the Garmin Barracuda and GreenEdge-led peloton. This gap remained relatively constant over the next 25 kilometres, after which the break climbed the Alt d'Ullastrell.
Ramírez was first to the summit there, cresting the climb ahead of Edet and Possoni. Seventeen kilometres later the break raced onto the ascent of the Castellbisbal, where Ignatenko, Possoni and Clement were first to the prime line.
The peloton was keeping things under control and with 50 kilometres to go, had the gap at a manageable one minute twenty seconds. This began to tumble more quickly thereafter, dropping to just 42 seconds with 46 kilometres left.
Once onto the Tibidabo climb, Smukulis and Dyachenko attacked with 40 kilometres left. Edet got back across to them, then Dyachenko surged again and opened a 35 second lead, while the others in the break were caught.
Tom Danielson (Garmin Barracuda) kicked clear towards the top of the climb and got across to the lone leader. They held a twenty second gap at that point, 35 seconds from the finish, then Danielson pushed on alone.
Following attacks by Maté (Cofidis) and Quintana (Movistar), which increased the pace in the chasing group, Danielson hit the prime line ten seconds ahead. He was caught soon afterwards, then Luis León Sánchez (Rabobank) attacked on the descent.
The former Paris-Nice winner appeared to be riding strongly and had a lead of one minute with 15 kilometres to go. However this lead wilted and with ten kilometres to go, he was reeled in.
Final battle between top riders:
Remy di Gregorio (Cofidis) was next to try, surging clear with a big attack. However he was brought back when the road started to edge upwards. RadioShack’s Thomas Rohregger then launched a big move and got a good gap, but the others got back in contact soon before the top.
Yesterday’s stage winner Sanchez was predicted beforehand as likely to make a move on the descent and did just that; he attacked hard, but was marked by Martin, who in turn was followed by a long chain of riders. Martin knew that he had to get two seconds back on the Euskaltel Euskadi rider, and marked him closely.
The riders sped down the descent towards Barcelona, most remaining safe despite the high speeds and twisting corners. One who didn’t was the US champion Matt Busche, who crashed at high speed. Fortunately he wasn’t badly injured.
Sanchez led the group under the two kilometres to go banner, then Vacansoleil’s Matteo Carrara surged and lead them under the kite.
Martin and others tried to position themselves for the gallop, but were overhauled by a wave of riders which swept through on the right hand side.
Julien Simon (Saur Sojasun) was to the fore, and the Frenchman sprinted in first to snatch the victory.
Albasini rolled in 32nd, savouring the moment, and sealing GreenEdge’s third WorldTour victory after the Santos Tour Down Under and Milan-Sanremo.
"We're extremely excited to give these victories to our supporters," said Neil Stephens. "We always do our very best, but the results don't always show that. When you work really hard and come out with the win, it's an outstanding feeling."