Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) broke a three-year drought to an end by claiming an impressive solo win in his trademark attacking fashion on the queen stage of the Volta a Catalunya. While the Belgian emerged as the strongest from a 10-rider breakaway, Nairo Quintana’s (Movistar) many attacks finally made Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) crack and the Colombian rode to second place which allowed him to move into the overall lead with an 8-second advantage over the Spaniard. Richie Porte (BMC) finished third and is also third overall.

 

We have gathered several reactions.

 

Thomas De Gendt: I have waited so long for this victory

Today Thomas De Gendt won the queen stage of the Volta a Catalunya. It was exactly three years ago that he won for the last time. Then he was the best in the seventh stage of that same race.

 

 “It’s three years since my last victory. This is very emotional. I am really glad that Lotto Soudal gave me a chance last year and that I can give this victory to the team. I am very proud,” he said.

 

"From the start it was fast. I wanted to be in the breakaway to anticipate attacks and also to stay ahead of the challenges because yesterday it was very hard to follow. 

 

“It was an uphill start, on a third category climb. After about eight kilometres I started to attack and I got in front with a nice group with also Gilbert in it. We cooperated well and also got a lot of space from the peloton. None of us had a high overall ranking so that was an advantage. Still, afterwards the gap suddenly dropped to six minutes.

 

“After the first hors catégorie climb, with about sixty kilometres to go, when the others were eating or taking care of their clothes Erviti took a lead of a few metres and set a high pace. I immediately felt like I had to follow him because I didn’t feel great today. I thought that when the others would attack uphill it would be over for me, so I decided to ride away with Erviti.

 

“We worked well together, also with Pieter Weening (Roompot).  Just before the last climb, everything exploded and I did my own pace. Pieter Weening bridged to us and then started a solo. I didn’t panic and kept my own pace. First I was only thinking about defending the second place, because that’s also a fantastic result in the queen stage of a WorldTour race, but then I saw Weening. Then I went full gas with the victory as result. It is wonderful that I can celebrate again after three years, the wait was long.

 

"I'm very happy. That last victory was three years ago. This is good, I am pleased with the opportunities that I get at Lotto-Soudal. "

 

"It's been three years since my last victory. It was also here in this race. So today it means a lot to me. This is proof that attacking pays off. I had eight wins in my career, and it was always by attacking. I try a lot, it fails most of the time ... but sometimes it works.

 

Nairo Quintana: I am not surprised to be at this level

The fire shown by Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) in yesterday's stage, when, of all the big favourites to win the Volta a Catalunya, he was alone in launching repeated attacks on La Molina, burned even brighter today at Port Ainé, propelling him into the race lead overall at the fifth WorldTour race of the season. He finished the stage 2nd behind Belgium's De Gendt (LTS), with sufficient advantage over his GC rivals to take over the race lead. Donning the white and green jersey was the perfect way to repay his telefónico team-mates for their exemplary work over the first four days of racing.

 

Under the direction of the two José Luises, Arrieta and Laguía, the team had a day of relative calm thanks to road captain Imanol Erviti's presence in the early breakaway. On the 1st Category Alt d'Enviny, he helped break down the original ten-man group into a trio that also contained Weening (ROO) and De Gendt. A solo plummet down the final descent saw him gain a minute, before the two lighter Low Countrymen passed him on the final climb. Meanwhile, as BMC set the pace, Dayer Quintana, Winner Anacona and José Herrada piloted Nairo Quintana into position, and their leader delivered the definitive blows: the first of them 2km from the finish line, when Contador (TNK) was alone in withstanding his change of pace, and the second inside the final kilometre, to dispatch his unwanted company.

 

His 17" advantage on the day over Porte (2nd) and Contador (3rd) gave him an 8" lead in GC, with three days to go before the climax on Montjuïc. Tomorrow, Movistar Team defends his lead on the road to Valls, where wind and the Category 2 Alt de Lilla constitute the evident hazards.

 

"Today I felt better than on La Molina,” he said. “It has been a great day. The team worked hard all stage, keeping me at the front as they have since Monday. We had Erviti in the break. We were hoping that he would lend a hand later on, but, in the end, he was going backwards and I had to go on the attack.

 

“We had Immanol ahead in the break of the day and we wanted to respect his chances first of all. But then the race was moving very fast behind and once it all came together, I launched a really big attack.

 

”I saw my opportunity and took full advantage of it. I had the condition to launch a big attack and make up the gap that opened in the final kilometre yesterday, and some besides.

 

”I have been taking care of myself since returning home from San Luis, and I have worked hard in order to be able to start the European season in good shape. This is my reward.

 

“I don’t know what problems Contador might have had. He, too, attacked and then I took my own opportunity.

 

"Final victory? There is still a lot to do. Contador is very close and, in reality, everyone is still within a handful of seconds. There will be lots of riders with an interest in attacking over the coming days, and you can never trust any of your rivals.

 

”Tomorrow's is a stage when you can never drop your guard and, even more so, the final circuit race around Barcelona, always a nervous day, is one when you have to keep your eyes peeled. We will try to control the race. We have a great team who will not let me down, and who will give it everything until Sunday. Let's just hope that my rivals don't discover their best form [laughs].

 

“Alberto and Richie may be the two biggest rivals I’ve got, but on the climb van Garderen’s attack was the most powerful.

 

"It was a beautiful climb. I had already finished third (in 2013) and I knew I had to attack in the final. I am not surprised to be in this level because I am well prepared and I paid attention to the details. I'm on the right track for the Tour de France.”

 

Richie Porte and Tejay van Garderen form excellent duo in Catalonia

Stage 4 of Volta Ciclista a Catalunya put the General Classication contenders to test, with the summit finish on Port Ainé seeing Richie Porte cross the line in third place and Tejay van Garderen in fifth.

 

The 172,2km queen stage ended with a surprise win by Thomas de Gendt (Lotto Soudal) who was the sole survivor of an early breakaway that included Philippe Gilbert.

 

In the final three kilometers both van Garderen and Porte attacked but Nairo Quintana (Movistar) got the better of them in the final kilometre to finish in second place and move into the overall lead.

 

Porte and van Garderen praised each other’s performance and the opportunity to race together as teammates for the first time.

 

“Our team in the final there were great. Tejay and I showed that we can work together so it was a good day. Samuel Sanchez did a fantastic job on the final climb. He took us up to the three kilometre to go mark and then for Tejay to attack like that, he set is up so well. I think Tejay was the most aggressive. He was the first one to fire off the attacks so full credit to him,” Porte said after the stage.

 

"It's not finished. We saw last year when we least expected it. If there is wind for example. Nothing is over until Sunday. “

 

“I feel like we had a great day as a team. Brent Bookwalter really deserves the VIP award for the best teammate and it was great to see Sanchez coming into form on the climb. It was a lot of fun being able to race the big guys with Richie there at the end. It’s too bad we couldn’t get the better of Quintana but we were both right there in the mix. The first race with Richie is a huge success I think,” van Garderen agreed.

 

Porte now sits in third overall on the General Classification, 17 seconds behind Quintana and van Garderen in fifth place, 27 seconds back. BMC Racing Team leads the team classification by 1’04 over Movistar.

Stage 5, 187,2km from Rialp to Valls, includes two category 2 climbs and will likely see a breakaway go early in the stage.

 

Alberto Contador: I can only congratulate Quintana with the win

After a thrilling finish to stage 3, the Volta a Catalunya’s queen stage promised drama and excitement with another tough day in the mountains. A strong ride by the Tinkoff leader saw Alberto Contador finish the day fourth on the stage and retaining his second place in the GC standings, eight seconds behind the race leader. With three stages still to go, the race is far from over.

 

Starting the stage after a second place on stage 3 moved him up to second in the GC overall, there was everything to race for in today’s route from Baga to Port Aine for Alberto Contador. The 172.2km course started how it meant to go on, with an uphill start up the third category Tunel del Cadi, before ascending the top category Porte de Canto and the first category Alt de Enviny, before the uphill finish on the top category Port Aine – an 18.9km climb with an average gradient of 6.3%.

 

For the Volta a Catalunya’s second day in the mountains, the race saw a second break from Pieter Weening of Roompot-Oranje Peloton. As the Dutch rider neared the final 10km, Lotto-Soudal’s De Gendt leapfrogged him to go clear at the front of the race. Tinkoff moved to the front to push the peloton to chase, with Jesper Hansen working hard to up the pace.

 

This was where the real racing started, with the top contenders for the GC going on the attack. With De Gendt heading up the road, Contador pulled away from the peloton, fighting to shake the chasers from his tail, taking Movistar’s Quintana up the road with him, the two riders matching each other’s pedal strokes as the finish came closer. With De Gendt over the line and only a few hundred metres to go, Quintana broke away, leaving Contador to fight for the finish with BMC’s Richie Porte, crossing the line at the same time, fifteen seconds after Quintana.

 

The attacks were non-stop, as Contador explained after the race. 

 

"There were a series of attacks in the final kilometers. I tested Dan Martin, saw he was in trouble. Then there was a pause and Van Garderen attacked and built a considerable gap. Then I went after Van Garderen because I couldn’t let him go just like that, he was too dangerous. Then it was Zakarin's turn and I had to put in a strong effort to reach him. I really paid for that effort to chase him down and then from that moment onwards, we all went for it - Porte, Quintana, me…. I did and from that point, Richie Porte attacked, then Quintana and then myself In one of those moves, Quintana really went for it and I had to catch my breath, and when I had done that, it was impossible to get him back. All I can do now is congratulate him on a fine win.”

 

Sport Director, Steven De Jongh was keeping a close eye on the times at the finish line, as the bonus seconds would make a big impact on the standings.

 

"It was a real close and tight finish, and the situation was always changing with the bonus seconds available. For a long time there were three riders ahead on the climb, so no bonus seconds available. Then by the end there was six and four which was more important. Alberto worked hard to bring Tejay van Garderen back, but in the final Quintana was too strong. And then Riche Porte beat him on the line, which was a pity as he would have been four seconds closer on GC – but he put a strong ride in today.

 

"Pawel Poljanski was sick and so he stopped the race. He was dropped early on the climbs and it didn't make any sense to keep pushing on so he stepped off. Jesper Hansen did a really good job today which was great to see - when Sky sent a rider up the road he started working to bring the gap down, and did a really good ride there."

 

With the race now leaving the mountains, Contador  was looking to the next three days’ racing, after the race leader’s strong show today.

 

“Quintana now has a chance at the Volta and I can only congratulate him. We still have to see what will happen but Movistar has a strong team with the intention to win the GC and it will be difficult to surprise them, given the profile of the stages left. The most important thing now is to fully recover and think in the days ahead."

 

With three stages still to go, anything can happen. Tomorrow’s stage from Rialp to Valls takes in two second category climbs over its 187.2km length, in a stage that, while flat compared to today’s stage, still presents the opportunity for breakaways and for time to be taken. De Jongh was clear the team will be racing for each of the race's remaining days.

 

“The race finishes on Sunday and we will fight until the last day like at Paris-Nice. We won't take second place for granted.”

 

Pieter Weening: It was not a hunger knock, it was just like climbing a wall

Pieter Weening was close to victory in the key mountain stage of the Volta a Catalunya. A daring solo attack by the veteran of Roompot - Orange Peloton ended two kilometers from the finish in Port Aine. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) passed Weening who ultimately crossed the finish line in sixth.

 

"It was not a hunger knock. I had eaten enough, but I was just on the limit in the last few kilometers," the nearly 35-year-old Dutchman regretted after the finish.

 

Yesterday Weening was also on the attack. 

 

"There I wanted to test myself well testing. Today I attacked with the intentionto win. At the top of the penultimate climb when I had to pee, Erviti and De Gendt took off. After the descent, I had to make a strong effort to get back to them," says Weening.

 

At the bottom of the more than 15-kilometer final climb to Port Aine, the last Dutch wearer of the pink jersey in the Giro left his breakaway companions. 

 

"I felt just fine there. I thought it would ge teasier towards the end but it was really hard. Those last few kilometers felt like climbing a wall. Let's say I did a great first part of the climb and De Gendt a super second part. Of course it’s a shame that I did not win, but I'm happy with my form for the classics.”

 

A setback for the team leaders Breukink and Van Poppel was the withdrawal of two riders. Johnny Hoogerland was ill and did not take the start in Baga. Nick van der Lijke had nausea symptoms and was a DF. Antwan Tolhoek got hurt in a crash where he hit his previously broken ribs but did manage to reach the finish of the stage.

 

Strong Ilnur Zakarin: I just went at my own rhythm

The second day of climbing continued to bring good form from Team KATUSHA rider Ilnur Zakarin who rode to seventh place on the stage at 1 minute and 41 seconds behind winner Thomas De Gendt. Zakarin saw help from teammate Alexey Tsatevich who put himself in the break across three of four climbs featured on stage 4. 

 

”It was a really hard stage as was predicted. In the final climb there was a strong wind, so nobody attacked until the last 3 km. I tried to be in front all the time. When the leaders started to attack, I just made my own rhythm because I knew I could do well with it. So, I was not far from others, and in the last km I pushed and did my best to place as high as possible. In general it was a good race for me, but of course this queen's stage was really hard,” said team leaderIlnur Zakarin. His hard work paid off in moving him to seventh place on the general classification at 42-seconds with three stages still to go.

 

Stage 4 of the 96th Volta Ciclista a Catalunya returned to the snowfields for a second day. At 172,2 km the stage began in Bagà and crossed three rated climbs before ending uphill in Port Ainé, the highest ski station in the Catalan region. The earlier action featured a long breakaway that included KATUSHA’s Alexey Tsatevich who managed to stay away until the lower slopes of the difficult 18 km final climb.

 

”It was our plan to have somebody in the break, so I was in front from the beginning of the stage. In a stage like this it is good if the team has a rider in the break. There were a lot of attacks on the first climb, but the break went away only on the descent. I saw a group of a few riders ahead and attacked together with Ben Swift to catch them. During the day we worked well in the break and it was a good race for me. I did my best to stay in front as long as possible and the peloton caught us with only 15 km to go on the final climb. Now I hope to recover well before last three stages,” said team rider Alexey Tsatevich.

 

Sky: Chris Froome is still better than he was last year

Chris Froome came home eighth on the queen stage at the Volta a Catalunya as he continues to find his climbing legs.

 

The Brit sat towards the back of an ever-reducing lead group on the beyond category Port Aine summit finish, remaining in touch before crossing the line one minute and 45 seconds back on solo stage victor Thomas De Gendt.

 

Froome finished among the lead group of favourites and now sits eighth overall on the general classification, 46 seconds back on new race leader Nairo Quintana (Movistar).

 

The Colombian broke clear of rivals Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) and Richie Porte (BMC Racing) in the final kilometre, edging into a narrow eight-second lead with three days to go.

 

Earlier on in the 172.2km test Ben Swift bridged across to what became a 10-man break to give the team some representation out front.

 

Then inside 30km to go Wout Poels attacked out of the pack - linking up with Swift further up the road as the Yorkshireman dropped back from the move.

 

The pair pushed on in tandem, but as the pace increased Poels was eventually caught with 7km to go. Mikel Nieve gave a brief acceleration of his own and was the second Team Sky rider home on the day, crossing the line 13th.

 

 

After the stage second Sport Director Brett Lancaster gave TeamSky.com his view from the front of the race, following the pre-planned attacks of Swift and Poels.

 

"We had a plan in place today and it went how we'd intended it to go," he confirmed. "We rode a little bit differently to the way that we normally do and the boys nailed it. Obviously Chris didn't quite have the legs in the end, but compared to last year his form is a lot better at this point than it was. So we'll look forward to the rest of the races coming up.

 

"We'd planned for Wout to go on the attack and he did a great job. We had Swifty in the break all day and we called him at the top of the climb and told him to stop and wait for Wout. He had a good gap of one minute and 40 at one stage. It was good to see. It was tough from behind and they rode pretty hard to bring them back."

 

Romain Bardet: I was not as good as yesterday

Romain Bardet finished ninth.

 

"It was the first major summit of the year with all the world's best,” he said. “It was a good battle. The last climb was a bit difficult. I gave up. I was not on a great day and the sensations were worse than yesterday. I got dropped. I could handle the first attack of Contador, but the second time I suffered and I set a rhythm with Dan Martin to try to limit the damage. We were with Froome in the final.

 

”For a first summit finish it is satisfactory. The Tour of Catalonia is not finished, I think it will still move. The level is very homogeneous, you have to believe and enjoy the attacking."

 

Optimistic Daniel Martin: The race is not over yet

Etixx – Quick-Step's Daniel Martin lies in fourth overall with three days left to go.

The ascent was a hard one, just as Dan Martin has expected, but he managed to limit the losses thanks to the great effort made by the team, with Carlos Verona digging deep at the front of the pack and protecting his leader on the steep part of Port Ainé. Martin gave his all when the action kicked-off and came 10th on the stage, a result which means he's now fourth in the GC, less than 30 seconds behind the leader.

 

At the finish, after catching his breath, he talked of how the day went on the race's toughest climb and what's next for Etixx – Quick-Step in Volta a Catalunya:

 

"The team rode incredible today. It's such a young team, but the guys controlled the race like seasoned pros. We had no help all day, but still controlled the race with style and strength. I am very proud of how the boys rode. Of course, I'm disappointed to lose the jersey after the hard work of the team, but I have to be happy with our position after the mountains. The race is for sure not over, and even though it will be difficult to take so much time on Quintana, we will look for opportunities. There's still three hard days of racing left, the team is going really good, so hopefully we can look for more results after what is already a successful week for us."

 

Impressive Hugh Carthy takes white jersey in star-studded Volta a Catalunya

After his impressive performance yesterday, Hugh Carthy continues to climb with the best riders in this year’s Volta a Catalunya. On Thursday’s queen stage, Carthy finished in 11th place and is now ninth the general classification. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) won the stage after a long breakaway, while Nairo Quintana (Movistar) finished second and took the leader’s jersey. Carthy’s strong ride not only secured him a spot in the top10 overall but also moved him into the lead in the youth classification.
 
“I have to thank my team,” he said. “They looked after me perfectly during the entire stage, making sure I had everything I needed. On the last climb, I took it very easy until the final five kilometers when the pace went up. From that moment on, I stayed in a small group with Froome, Martin and Bardet. I lost a little ground on the last kilometer but I’m still very satisfied with my performance today. I’m happy to lead the youth classification and I believe I can keep this jersey. There are still three hard stages left, but we are in a good position and we have to go for it”.
 
Fabio Aru: Of course I would have likes to be better

“For sure I would have liked it if I had been able to repond to the attacks in the finale but I have to look at the future and I think that, in this sense, today’s stage was a very important step in the preparation of my goals for this season,” said Fabio Aru at the Team Bus moving to the hotel after the stage.

 

“Like yesterday, I felt very good all day and even though we did 3.800 meters of climbing, I always had good sensations. Then in the finale, in the accelerations, I suffered again and lost some seconds to the strongest rivals,” concluded the Italian captain of the Astana Pro Team.

 

Warren Barguil still not competitive in Catalonia mountains

Laurens ten Dam was part of the early break of 11 riders and the group worked well together as they managed to build up a maximum advantage of 10′ over the peloton. Meanwhile, Warren Barguil still had the support on of Tobias Ludvigsson and Ten Dam on the final climb and it was a strong ride from him to finish in 27th place.

 

Team Giant-Alpecin coach Morton Bennekou said: “I think we did a really good job today. The team managed to cover all the important attacks at the beginning of the race and with Laurens we were part of the main breakaway of the day. On the uphill finish, it was quite hard and the pace was kept high at the front so there was only around 40 riders left in the bunch. The team was in a good position with Warren and Tobias and they rode their own race as it was very steep in the final part of the climb.”

 

Wanty-Groupe Gobert eye opportunities with Gasparotto in Catalonia

In Volta a Catalunya, Thomas Degand climbed one position in the overall classification for Wanty. He now sits in 23rd position, at only 16s from the top 20.

 

Boris Dron courageously attacked again! On the first HC climb he took maximum points but because stage winner Thomas De Gendt took double points on the final climb, he loses the jersey. He is 26 points behind De Gendt in this classification.

 

"There are still possibilities for Boris," sports director Steven De Neef said. "In the upcoming days there will also be possibilities for a good stage result for Enrico Gasparotto, tomorrow , or Gaëtan Bille and Jérôme Baugnies later this week."

 

Merhawi Kudus loses ground in Catalonia mountains

For Dimension Data, Cameron Meyer also into some difficulty during the fast start and crashed in the opening kilometers. The Australian was not too badly injured though and was able to get back into the race.

 

Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka squad was once again protecting Merhawi Kudus and he started the final climb in good stead. The peloton had slowly been whittled down to just 40 riders with 3km to go and Merhawi Kudus was there with Igor Anton supporting him. The attacks then came from the favourites and it was up to Kudus to follow the wheels. Kudus hung tough to be the highest placed rider in 29th position.

 

Sports director Alex Sans Vega said:
 

“It was the Queen stage of the Volta Catalunya with a tough, long final climb of almost 20km's. A break of 10 riders went ahead and we were part of all the early moves except for this final one that stuck. We then had to focus on the final with Merhawi, and Igor Anton was the last rider protecting him. We had the idea of possibly going for the young rider jersey but we were not able to get it. Merhawi is a bit more than 1 minute behind the white jersey leader. The guys did their best but tomorrow we need to be more active and try to get into the break.”

 

Off-day for Esteban Chaves on Catalonia queen stage

35-year-old Ruben Plaza had a long day out front on stage four of the WorldTour race Volta Catalunya. Spending over 130km in the day's breakaway on the hilly Queen stage, it proved one climb too many for the Spaniard.

 

Damien Howson was the highest place finisher for ORICA-GreenEDGE, crossing the finish line in Port Ainé in 34th place. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) successfully managed to stay away to take the victory ahead of a reduced bunch of favourites.

 

"We had the option of going up the road today," said sport director Neil Stephens."It's always good to have someone up there just in case and today it was Ruben.

 

"We sort of had two parts to the race. We had the non climbers trying to get through the stage and do as little damage as they could, and then we had the climbers basically trying to give Esteban Chaves as much support as they could throughout the day.

 

"It turned out that once Ruben was caught we actually had the two young guys Damien Howson and Jack Haig still there and both having a really good day, so then they were really good support for Chaves, but in the end Chaves had a bit of an off day."

 

Robert Gesink bounces back with attack in Catalonia queen stage

Robert Gesink, Steven Kruijswijk and Primoz Roglic weren’t able to finish the queen stage of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya among the best overall riders. Gesink attacked on the final climb to Port Ainé, but didn’t hold his advantage. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto Soudal) won and Nairo Quintana (Movistar) took the overall lead.

 

“It was difficult for us to be part of the early breakaway,” sports director Frans Maassen said after the fourth stage. “We had three riders at less than two minutes behind , so they couldn’t get enough space. We expected a stage win by one of the overall riders because of that.”

 

That didn’t happen. Thomas De Gendt, who was part of the breakaway, stayed out of the clutches of the overall riders. In the chase to the last escapees, Robert Gesink broke out of the group with the race’s main guns. He stayed in front of them for several kilometres. 

 

“I knew that it wasn’t going to be for the stage victory, but I’m satisfied with my performance today,” Gesink said. “I don’t have much race hardness yet. It seems that I need more of that now than I did in the last years, when I was able to reach a very high level with just training. An athlete’s body changes through years of giving everything and working hard.”

 

Gesink and Kruijswijk finished four minutes after stage winner De Gendt.

 

“We must forget the general classification now,” Maassen said. “We are going to race more aggressively in the upcoming days. Tomorrow is chance, but it’s probably going to be a big fight to enter the breakaway.”

 

Kristian Durasek shows the Lampre-Merida colours in Catalonia

In the queen stage of Volta a Catalunya, Team Lampre Merida went on the attack. After losing leader Louis Meintjes because of a crash, Tsgabu Grmay and Ilya Koshevoy tried first and then Kristijan Durasek made it into the break that dominated the stage.

 

 

"Without our GC rider Meintjes, I have given the green light to the boys to try to join a good escape. I must say that especially Durasek showed a good condition as he stayed away until the final ascent. Our job now is just to try every day, believing in the success of a break to play for a stage win,” sports director Orlando Maini said.

 

Meintjes has stayed in Spain to undergo treatment.