The three-time champion of the Tour of Spain, the Slovenian Primoz Roglic, resisted the attacks on the Montjuïc circuit (Barcelona) and was proclaimed the winner of the 102nd edition of the Volta a Catalunya, which ended with a victory in the seventh stage of his greatest rival Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step).
The last day, of 135 kilometres, ended with another marvelous duel between Remco and Roglic, who were the strongest in the race once again, where they went head-to-head again in a final circuit through leg-breaking terrain with 6 climbs to the Alto de Montjuic.
For his part, the world champion, who attacked unsuccessfully on the third climb to Montjuic, took second place on the podium after finishing six seconds behind Roglic overall and third place went to the Portuguese Joao Almeida ( UAE Team Emirates), at 2:11.
As for America, the best placed was the Canadian Michael Woods (Israel – Premier Tech) in sixth place in the individual overall, while the Colombian Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-EasyPost) was tenth. The rest of the Colombians finished as follows: Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost) in 11th place, Einer Rubio (Movistar) in 13th place and Iván Ramiro Sosa (Movistar) 20th.
The formidable Slovenian road racer, Primoz Roglic, commented to the press on his performance in the Catalan race: “It was a difficult six days and I was hoping for a similar last day, but the team was great, they kept me in the right position. And I had legs. So it was a great week, now we can celebrate,” he said.
The victory means a lot to the three-time Vuelta a España winner. “It was a race that was missing from my record. It’s good to be part of this history, it’s one of the oldest stage races. I feel honored to be among the winners”, added the leader of the Jumbo-Visma.
In the month of May, Evenepoel and Roglic will meet again, this time in the Giro d’Italia. Will we see in that race the same as in the Volta a Catalunya? “I hope so. It was fun and I enjoyed it”, concluded Roglic.
Source: Revista Mundo Ciclístico y Agencias de Prensa