For the second time in the Volta a Catalunya Maciej Paterski made the break of the day and finished on the podium. He claimed 3rd place on stage 6 after a sprint from a small group.

“I felt tired yesterday and the day before but I managed to recover and on today’s stage the good sensations came back. I was feeling good enough to take advantage of my form and try my luck in a breakaway. There were a few teams in the group that had more representatives. I was trying to save as much as energy as I could and let them ride in the front.

“It was a little bit chaotic in the finale, when the attacks were being launched. When Julian Alanphilippe took off in the last 1km I had to bridge the gap and it cost my a lot. In the sprint my legs were not as strong as I would like and I couldn’t deliver a second victory in the race,” Maciej Paterski said to the CCC Sprandi website.

“Tomorrow it will be very hard for the escape to go all the way. Alejandro Valverde, who is only 16 seconds back in the GC, will try to create some time differences and take the final win,” he added.

Milano-Sanremo, all day in the breakaway the day after, the stage win, and two days in a leader jersey were not enough for Maciej Paterski. He took a part in a main breakaway on stage 6 alongside 20 other riders. Among them there were Tejay van Garderen (winner of stage 4), Tom Danielson (owner of KOM jersey) and Steven Kruijsvijk, who was the biggest GC threat for the favorites, sitting 23rd overall (4:25 back).

Surprisingly the peloton was not bringing the advantage down and with 30km to go it was still 3:40. Paterski was riding actively, often setting the pace in the group. In the finale Telay van Garderen accelerated a couple of times and shed a few riders from the group. Paterski managed to stay with 12 other riders.

Despite many late moves, nobody was able to pull away in the last 15km. The CCC Sprandi Polkowice rider stayed concentrated, didn’t launch any attacks himself but was responding and was making sure to sit on the wheels of the right opponents.

Julian Alaphilippe took off solo in the final kilometre. He was caught right before the finish line by a stage winner Sergiei Chernetski. Paterski started his sprint well positioned but was not able to overtake the Katusha rider.