Colombia-Coldeportes’ Walter Pedraza was among the main figures of Vuelta a Catalunya’s 7th and final stage,Barcelona-Barcelona of 126 km, on Sunday March 29th. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) gave everything he had in the final to try and strip the leader’s jersey away of Richie Porte (Team Sky), but it was not enough for the Spaniard to take his third stage win in Catalunya, ahead of Bryan Coquard (Europcar) and Sergei Chernetckii (Katusha) to see off the Australian in the GC. Porte won the general classification with a 4-second gap on Valverde and 5 seconds on Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale), while Alex Cano, 27th, was the best Team Colombia-Coldeportes’ rider in the final standings.

The Escarabajos, who were joined at the start by Diana Celis Mora, Colombian General Consul in Barcelona, and the Consulate’s communication and culture account Ana Maria Jaramillo, were particularly motivated to round out their third World Tour race of the season with a day in the spotlight, and managed to do that with Walter Pedraza, who had tried to go on the break several times in the last few days, with no luck.

At about km 35, three men broke away – Pedraza, David Arroyo (Caja Rural) and Marek Rutkiewitz (CCC-Sprandi) – but their advantage never extended over 2 minutes, being kept under control by Valverde’s Movistar team. In the stage finale, Pedraza distanced his fellow escapees, holding on to the fore until 12 km to go, with the peloton already at full speed on the Montjuic circuit. Finally, about 40 men took part in the final sprint, won by the experienced Spaniard.

“I was happy for Walter, who had tried so hard to attack in the last few days, and finally made the break: it will be good for his morale,” Sports Director Oscar Pellicioli told. “About our Vuelta a Catalunya, we can’t deny it proved a very demanding test, against so many top opponents. Things got difficult right away, with Torres forced to withdrawal after day 1, and generally speaking we knew youngsters like Diaz and Martinez would have had a pretty hard time in their first World Tour challenge.”

“From Daniel Martinez, Pellicioli continued, "we got some importanti indications: today he did not finish the stage, but he is not even 19 yet. He showed quality and determination to become a good rider, now he needs time to do it. About Alex Cano, we could have expected a little more, but in Catalunya he showed progression day by day, and we cannot forget he had finished Tirreno-Adriatico just a few days earlier: it is not a simple feat for his first year in Europe. He deserves a little more patience.”