Julien Simon wins the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya, Michael Albasini claimed the overall victory
Julien Simon of Team Saur-Sojasun wins the seventh stage of the Volta a Catalunya.
He rode brilliantly during the 119.8 kilometre stage to grab his second victory of the season.
He finished the race in a fastest time of 2 hours, 47 minutes and 2 seconds and overcame Francesco Gavazzi and Damiano Cunego during the seventh stage.
Rigoberto Uran Uran of Team Sky, Robert Kiserlovski of Team Astana and Jurgen Van Den Broeck of Team Lotto claimed the fourth, the fifth and the sixth positions in the respective order.
Michael Albasini of Team GreenEdge was leading the overall classifications before the start of the final stage.
Samuel Sanchez was at the second position with a deficit of 1 minute and 30 seconds while Jurgen Van Den Broeck was further two seconds behind at the third spot.
Albasini finished the seventh stage at the 32nd position and managed his grip on the overall classifications.
He secured his first overall victory of the season and occupied the top podium spot after the final general classifications.
The Swiss was delighted after the victory and thanked the whole Team GreenEdge for their support throughout the seven-day race.
Albasini told Biciciclismo, “I didn't believe until this morning that I would win this race. I had Daryl [Impey] with me on the final climb”.
“He has been by my side throughout the entire week. Each of my teammates did everything we asked them to do.”
Team GreenEdge director Neil Stephens briefed after the race, “There was really no moment today when we were under terrible pressure”.
“Those moments came earlier in the week. Today, we observed the different objectives of the other teams.
When Garmin made their interests known, we let them ride on the front and took a secondary role”.
Chris Anker Sorensen of Team Saxo Bank secured the top spot after the mountains classifications while Tomasz Marczynski claimed the top spot at the sprint classifications.
Team Garmin Cervelo finished at the top position after the final team’s classifications. Team Katusha, Team Saur-Sojasun, Team Omega Pharma-Quickstep and Team Rabobank grabbed the next four spots.
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