Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) won the sixth stage of the Volta a Catalunya which was shortened due to heavy snow and bad weather in the Pyrenees Mountains on Saturday.
Defending champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) maintained his overall lead of 16 seconds over Egan Bernal (Team Sky) ahead of the final stage.
Schachmann beat Diego Rubio in a two-man sprint to claim the 117-kilometer ride that ended in Torrefarrera after staring in La Pobla de Segur.
The stage was originally 194 kilometers and to start at Viehla in the mountains, but heavy snow led to a change by race officials.
Valverde said riders faced temperatures of 1 and 2 degrees Celsius and rain for a large part of the ride.
”Now we have tomorrow,” Valverde said. ”We know that 16 seconds can either seem like a lot, or not very much at all.”
Schachmann and Rubio held off a late push by the peloton, which crossed 18 seconds after the winner.
”It was a really, really cold day even with the shortened sage,” Schachmann said. ”It was incredibly hard. I was even frozen in the front. I am really happy I made it to the finish line.”
Valverde’s teammate, Nairo Quintana, stayed third overall, 26 seconds behind.
Sunday’s seventh stage is a 155-kilometer ride in Barcelona.
https://youtu.be/1yQTt4EsuG8
Volta a Catalunya 2018 – stage 6 results (Pobla de Segur – Torrefarrera):
| 1 | Maximilian Schachmann (Quick-Step Floors) | 2:34:25 |
| 2 | Diego Rubio (Burgos BH) | ,, |
| 3 | Sam Bennett (Bora-hansgrohe) | +18” |
| 4 | Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) | ,, |
| 5 | Roberto Ferrari (UAE Team Emirates) | ,, |
| 6 | Enrique Sanz (Euskadi Basque Country-Murias) | ,, |
| 7 | Egan Bernal (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 8 | Danilo Wyss (BMC) | ,, |
| 9 | José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) | ,, |
| 10 | Benoit Jarrier (Fortuneo-Samsic) | ,, |
General classification after stage 6:
| 1 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | 24:56:48 |
| 2 | Egan Bernal (Team Sky) | +16” |
| 3 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +26” |
| 4 | Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale) | +48” |
| 5 | Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +01’12” |
| 6 | Marc Soler (Movistar) | +01’18” |
| 7 | George Bennett (LottoNL-Jumbo) | +01’20” |
| 8 | Hugh Carthy (EF Education First-Drapac) | +01’24” |
| 9 | Daniel Martinez (EF Education First-Drapac) | +01’26” |
| 10 | Jesper Hansen (Astana) | +01’28” |
