Colombia’s Nairo Quintana won the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya on Sunday with the final stage — a 136km circuit around Barcelona’s Montjuic, the site of the 1992 Olympic Games — going to Alexey Tsatevich of Russia.
Quintana of Movistar took the lead in what is Spain’s oldest stage race at the end of the fourth stage in Port Aine and he never looked like losing that on Sunday.
The Colombian successfully resisted a series of attacks from Team Sky’s Chris Froome, Tinkoff’s Alberto Contador and Etixx-QuickStep’s Dan Martin in a race that featured the majority of this year’s contenders for the Tour de France.
While Team Katusha’s Tsatevich edged out Slovenia’s Primoz Roglic of LottoNL-Jumbo in a sprint finish, Quintana finished seven seconds clear of Spain’s Contador overall, with Ireland’s Martin in third, 17 seconds off the pace.
Defending Tour de France champion Froome was forced to settle for eighth place as he finished 46 seconds adrift.
“There’s a lot of emotion to have been able to beat my rivals. It gives me confidence that we are working well,” said Quintana, who, like Froome, was racing for the first time in Europe this season.
However, he was mindful not to read too much into the result.
“I won the Tour of Catalonia by seven seconds, which isn’t very much,” he said.
For Contador, like Froome a two-time winner of the Tour de France, his second-placed finish marked another near-miss for the Spaniard.
“It’s a pity that I missed the win for four seconds at Paris-Nice and seven here,” Contador said. “However, if I had to choose between the form I have right now and achieving victory with worse sensations, I would definitely prefer the good sensations, especially ahead of the season’s big goal, the Tour de France.”
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