Volta a Catalunya: Quinn Simmons wins severely shortened stage 6

A chaotic penultimate stage at the Volta a Catalunya resulted in a first World Tour-level victory for Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek), after just half an hour of racing. 

High winds curtailed the route that had been originally planned for the Queen stage, preventing the race from reaching the summit finish at Queralt. Race organisers proposed a new shortened route, and though they initially intended the peloton to complete a full lap of the circuit, the riders united to request that they race only the final portion of the first lap.

After a fast and furious 28 kilometres of racing, mostly taking place on a long descent, Simmons launched a speculative attack under the flamme rouge, and despite being pursued by Pavel Bittner (Team Picnic-PostNL), he was able to hold off the rapidly approaching chasing pack to take the stage win. Bittner finished second, and Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech) was third.

There were no changes in the overall standings after a short and frenetic ride into Berga. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) retains the race lead by a single second over Primož Roglič (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) heading into tomorrow’s final circuit stage around Barcelona. Enric Mas (Movistar) remains in the third spot on GC.

Simmons spoke about the day in his post-race interview: “It’s probably the strangest day of my career. First, we race, then we don’t race, then we do a short race, and then we do two laps of the race, and then we do 28k in the end. So yeah, it’s a bit surprising to be here, because if I’m honest I was one of the riders voting that we don’t start when we felt the wind today. But yeah, in the end, it’s a World Tour race and my first World Tour victory. So it’s super special.

“Everyone was a bit not knowing what was going on. And then, of course, when you race so short, it’s gonna be super nervous. We actually didn’t even know when the start was coming. I was back in the cars taking my leg warmers off, so I was like, third peloton in the descent, and rode back by myself. I thought maybe the day was already over about 2k into the stage. It was crazy.

“I wasn’t actually supposed to be here. I got the call on Thursday to come. It’s super special to take my first World Tour victory, especially with my family watching at home, and my girlfriend and brother will be at the finish tomorrow. It’s almost a home race for me, living in Girona, you know, I’ll never get a race in the US, so I’ll have to call this my home race now, I guess.

“My biggest objective for the week was tomorrow, and then I got the job done one day early. So the team can go home happy, and I can go home super happy.”

How it unfolded

Originally planned to be the Queen stage of the race, stage 6 of the Volta Catalunya began with news that the route would be shortened due to winds in excess of 100mph at the summit of the climb of Queralt. At the start line in Berga, the peloton appeared to be no closer to understanding how the day would unfold.

Instead of the planned summit finish up to Queralt, the proposed alternative was two laps around Berga, the first taken on by the peloton under fully neutralised conditions, to check on safety concerns, and survey the security of the route, before the full lap would then be ridden a second time if it was deemed to be safe.

But it did not take long for the riders to lose patience with the arrangement and make their voices heard, as team leaders from the top teams took it in turn to visit the commissaire’s car. Primož Roglič argued the case for racing from the point on the course they were at, rather than racing a full additional lap, following an afternoon which had already been ridden at a snail’s pace. The commissaire appeared to heed the request of what looked to be a united bunch, and a decision was made allowing the race to begin imminently.

Once the start was given the race quickly got up to speed and launched around 28 kilometres from the finish line in Berga. Race organisers confirmed that GC times would be taken at 5 kilometres to go and that no time bonuses would be available on the finish line, to ensure the safety of the riders, so a stage win was all that was up for grabs, and as such, a number of hopefuls set out their stall to try and take something from the race.

A trio of riders pulled clear of the bunch on the long descent, comprising Frank van den Broek (Team Picnic-PostNL), Remy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ) and Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek). They were later joined by Diego Uriarte (Equipo Kern Pharma), but the bunch organised themselves shortly afterwards and collected first Rochas and Uriarte, before finally closing down the leading duo of Verona and van den Broek with ten kilometres left to race.

With just under 5 kilometres remaining the road kicked up, offering a launchpad for attacks, with a number of riders firing off to try and gain a march on the sprinters. But it was Simmons whose explosive attack heading into the final kilometre stuck, his late turn of pace enough to stay clear of the rampaging bunch who were closing in behind.

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