Volta Ciclista a Catalunya: Uran 2nd as Crosswinds Split Race

Volta Ciclista a Catalunya: Uran 2nd as Crosswinds Split Race

Volta Ciclista a Catalunya is known as a stage race without any true flat stages, but Friday's 5th Stage was one where a flat section told the story. 

Rigoberto Uran finished 2nd out of a select group of GC favorites that formed a front echelon with about 40km left in the stage, just a few kilometers after the original breakaway was caught and the pace of the peloton was high. The lead group quickly gained enough of an advantage on Bart De Clerq (Lotto Soudal), the race leader, to have several members of the group overtake him in the overall.

The group contained about 17 riders and they held more than a minute advantage with 13km remaining. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) accelerated with 11km to go, and some ensuing counter attacks quickly reduced the group to just nine riders in contention. While the riders in the group wanted to stay together to go for the stage and the important bonifications, Valverde attacked continuously until he finally gained a gap with a few kilometers left in the stage. Valverde went on to win solo. However, Uran was working hard behind Valverde in order to attain 2nd and gain the crucial seconds to move up in the GC, and he accomplished his goal.

Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) was 3rd.

Richie Porte (Team Sky) moves into the leader's jersey, with Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R - La Mondiale) 2nd (+5") and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) 3rd (+7"). Uran moves up a place into 5th, 18" down on Porte.

Etixx - Quick-Step looks next to 194.1km Stage 6 on Saturday. The stage includes a Category 1 and Category 3 climb, but descends into the finish line.

"The stage of today was really exigent," Uran said. "Every stage of this race has been difficult. The parcours is part of the reason, but also the quality of the riders here is really high. On paper this looked like a relaxed stage, but at the end it became really hard. The team was really good, they always kept me out trouble. I was always in front and never out of position. When we went in the front all the riders were collaborating well. When Valverde attacked there is usually that moment where everyone looks at each other, and he capitalized on that moment. Once again I finished in 2nd. It is just a question of moments and Valverde simply chose the right moment. But considering everything I have to be happy. The time differences in the classification is really small, so we have to stay focused in the next stages and keep doing our best."