All was set for another victory for Gianni Meersman (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) in today's penultimate stage of the Volta a Catalunya was way clear of his competitors just meters before the line. In the end, he was denied by Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) who produced a fantastic sprint to take his first European victory of the season.

Gianni Meersman has been unstoppable in the uphill sprints in this year's Volta a Catalunya, and his competitors have struggled to find a way to beat the talented Belgian. With his powerful surge on today's ascending finishing stage, Simon Gerrans proved how it can be done.

The sprint came at the end of an incredibly fast stage. The 178,7 km leg was a hilly affair with a 1st category and 2nd category climb both in the last half of the race. The summit of the last one was to be crowned with just 14,5 km remaining.

With the hard route making the race difficult to control and with sprinters doubting their ability to stay with the best on the last climb, many riders saw the stage as the perfect opportunity for a successful breakaway. As a consequence, the race started off at an extremely rapid pace where attacks went thick and fast without anyone getting a noticeable gap, and more than 50 km were covered during the first hour of the race.

Martin goes for the intermediate sprint

At the first intermediate sprint, race leader Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) saw an opportunity to extend his narrow 14-second lead over nearest rival Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha). His Garmin team did a perfect job and Martin crossed the line first ahead of his teammates Koldo Fernandez and Ryder Hesjedal. With 3 bonus seconds, he extended his lead to 17 seconds ahead of tomorrow's final stage.

It was not until the first climb with less than 70 km remaining that a break finally managed to get clear. Alberto Losada (Kastuha), Egor Silin (Astana), Mikel Astarloza (Euskaltel), Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo-Tinkoff), Simone Stortoni (Lampre), Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), Jose Herrada (Movistar) and Joshua Edmondson (Sky) managed to build up a gap of more than 1 minute.

The sprinters show their intentions

Ag2r and Omega Pharma-Quick Step saw the stage as a perfect opportunity for their sprinters Samuel Dumoulin and Meersman, respectively. Both were expected to handle the final climb well and the finishing straight was perfectly suited to their characteristics. Both team asked riders to up the pace, and the gap started to come down rapidly.

On the day's final climb, Stephen Cummings (BMC) set a hard tempo in attempt to set up Danilo Wyss for the sprint. In the front group, Navarro did most of the work and his rapid pace momentarily split the group with Stortoni and Sørensen both struggling. However, they kept together and crested the summit less than 30 seconds ahead of the peloton.

That peloton had been drastically reduced in size, and as they approached the top, GC contenders Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Lotto), Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Michele Scarponi (Lampre) all out in attacks. No one was, however, able to get a gap.

The break is caught

On the descent, Cannondale and FDJ took over at the front to set up their sprinters Daniele Ratto and Laurent Pichon who had both survived the final climb. That spelled the end for the break which was caught with around 5 km to go.

BMC had plenty of riders in the group, and Ivan Santaromita, Stephen Cummings and Steve Morabito went to the front with Wyss on their wheel. They kept a high pace in the final kilometers, and the peloton was completely strung out.

Just before the last corner inside the final kilometer of the race, Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) went to the front with Meersman in his wheel. Moments later Ratto opened up his sprint, but was passed easily by Meersman. In the end, it was, however, a fast Australian who took the honours as he had an incredible final kick and overtook his Belgian rival just on the line.

Result

Result:

1. Simon Gerrans

2. Gianni Meersman

3. Samuel Dumoulin

4. Daniele Ratto

5. Danilo Wyss

6. Julien Simon

7. Daniel Moreno

8. Joaquin Rodriguez

9. Jakob Fuglsang

10. Rigoberto Uran

Top 10

1. Daniel Martin

2. Joaquin Rodriguez

3. Nairo Quintana

4. Bradley Wiggins

5. Michele Scarponi

6. Robert Gesink

7. Przemyslaw Niemiec

8. Thibaut Pinot

9. Jurgen Van Den Broeck

10. Peter Stetina