Georg Preidler was one of 21 riders to make the decisive breakaway on the penultimate stage of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya today, with the Austrian eventually racing to seventh. The escape went early in the stage and Team Sky, riding in defence of the overall leader’s jersey, decided that they were happy for it to stick, controlling the move but only from a distance.

The stage was set for the riders up the road to fight it out between themselves but not before whittling down the selection through a flurry of attacks in the second half of the race. Preidler made the front split before trying his own luck on a few occasions to break clear, but in the end it was a group of 13 heading into the final kilometres to fight for the stage and Sergei Chernetckii (Katusha) proved fastest.

Just under two minutes later Luka Mezgec led home the bunch in 20th place, with all the Team Giant-Alpecin riders safely home within the time limit, including Lawson Craddock who had to overcome a fall during the stage but will only cuts and bruises as an after effect.

“After the hard fight for the GC over the past few days a breakaway was quite likely today so we had to make sure we were there,” explained coach Addy Engels to the Giant-Alpecin website. “Georg did well to get into the move and Sky were happy to control and let it go.”

“In the final the front group split and eight riders were dropped but Georg was looking good and tried to attack. Maybe he did too much but it was a good ride and a good day for his confidence and to learn from these situations.”