Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) withstood a late attack by British brothers Adam and Simon Yates to claim victory in the Volta a Catalunya on Sunday.
Lopez seized control of the race on Thursday’s summit-finish and the 25-year-old added to the Tour of Colombia he won in impressive fashion in February.
“I’m tired but very happy,” the climber said in an Instagram post alongside a photo of him smiling broadly on the team bus.
The day’s racing was marred by a heavy crash of around 20 riders on an 70/kph downhill section. Romain Bardet, who appeared to break a collarbone, Simon Geschke were all taken to hospital for treatment. Marc Soler also pulled out of the race.
“It was a violent fall because we were going downhill fast,” explained Bardet. “I’m suffering with my ribs but it could have been much worse,” said the 28-year-old Frenchman.
The seventh and final stage, a hilly 143km ride that started and ended in Barcelona, culminating in seven laps of the coastal city and its steep climb to Montjuic.
Lopez started the day with a slender 14sec lead over Adam Yates, who, accompanied by his brother Simon, attempted a late attack but could not break Lopez.
Eventually, a reduced group of 13 contenders all finished about 55sec behind the solo winner Bora-Hansgrohe rider Davide Formolo.
Yates’ runner-up spot follows on the heels of his gut-wrenching second place, by a single second to Primoz Roglic, at the Tirreno-Adriatico two weeks ago.
Volta a Catalunya 2019 – stage 7 results (Barcelona – Barcelona):
| 1 | Davide Formolo (Bora-hansgrohe) | 3:19:41 |
| 2 | Enric Mas (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +51” |
| 3 | Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-hansgrohe) | +53” |
| 4 | Dion Smith (Mitchelton-Scott) | +55” |
| 5 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | ,, |
| 6 | Egan Bernal (Team Sky) | ,, |
| 7 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | ,, |
| 8 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | ,, |
| 9 | Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) | ,, |
| 10 | Michael Woods (EF Education First) | ,, |
Volta a Catalunya 2019 – final general classification:
| 1 | Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) | 29:14:17 |
| 2 | Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) | +14” |
| 3 | Egan Bernal (Team Sky) | +17” |
| 4 | Nairo Quintana (Movistar) | +25” |
| 5 | Steven Kruijswijk (Jumbo-Visma) | +56” |
| 6 | Michael Woods (EF Education First) | +01’42” |
| 7 | Rafal Majka (Bora-hansgrohe) | +02’27” |
| 8 | Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) | +02’41” |
| 9 | Enric Mas (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) | +02’49” |
| 10 | Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) | +03’02” |
