Nairo Quintana (Movistar) has said he fully expects the battle for the overall victory in the Volta a Catalunya to go down to the very last metre of Sunday’s final stage of the race, which finishes with eight laps of the hilly Montjuic Park.
Quintana received more unspoken warnings on stage 6 from his rivals that they will not let him cruise home to victory on Sunday unchallenged. The fast and fraught second day of battle for time bonuses amongst the favourites of the Volta a Catalunya on Saturday saw Quintana strongly defend his lead, though, with Movistar leading the Colombian climber close to the front of the pack whenever needed.
However, the strong winds and frequent changes of direction on a very fast, downhill stage meant there was a definite risk of echelons and on one occasion a prolonged drive at the head of the pack by Italy’s Matteo Tossato with Alberto Contador tucked in on his back wheel made it clear Contador, in second place and just seven seconds back, has no intention of dropping the pressure.
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Contador and former leader Dan Martin (Etixx QuickStep) had already shaved time off Quintana’s advantage in a time bonus hot spot sprint on stage 5 and Martin did so again on stage 6, gaining another three seconds in another intermediate sprint. The Irishman is now 18 seconds back, one second down on Richie Porte (BMC Racing), whilst Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) having gained another second, is another threat, 31 seconds back.
Referring to the ultra-close GC classification - and bearing in mind there are two more hot spot sprints tomorrow, too, as well as the bonus seconds on offer at the finish - Quintana said after stage 6, “I hope it’s not going to get too tricky, but of course I’m expecting attacks.
“The Montjuic circuit isn’t that technical, but it can get fiddly. There will be attacks but on other years it’s all come down to a small bunch sprint.”
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