Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic.
Slovenian Primoz Roglic became the winner of the Around Catalonia cycle race, after a thrilling fight to the end with Belgian Remco Evenepoel. The second, reigning world champion, won the last stage with a start and finish in Barcelona. Rafał Majka finished the whole event in 36th place.
Evenepoel, 23, of the Soudal-Quick Step group, entered the seventh stage, composed of many climbs (including the ascent of Montjuic six times), with a loss of 10 seconds on Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), who almost eleven years older.
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The Belgian cyclist tried on Sunday to escape the experienced Slovenian, but Roglic did not allow it. They fought until the end to win the whole race.
The world champion ended up with a stage victory on Sunday as a consolation. He overtook Roglic at the finish line, who arrived at the same time. Third place – 53 seconds behind – was taken by Spaniard Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates).
In the general classification, the Slovenian proved to be better than the Belgian, counting the bonuses, by only six seconds. Third place was taken by Portugal’s Joao Almeida – more than two minutes behind those two.
Evenepoel will have the opportunity for a rematch in the Giro d’Italia, where, along with Roglic, he is among the main favourites.
Majka (UAE Team Emirates) – the only Polish woman to finish the race – took 47th place on Sunday with a loss of 2.40. Overall, he was ranked 36th, losing almost 25 minutes to the winner.
Łukasz Owsian (Team Arkea Samsic) did not start the day before.
Wyniki 7. etapu, Barcelona - Barcelona (135,8 km): 1. Remco Evenepoel (Belgia/Soudal-Quick Step) 2:59.24 2. Primoz Roglic (Słowenia/Jumbo-Visma) ten sam czas 3. Marc Soler (Hiszpania/UAE Team Emirates) strata 53 s 4. Corbin Strong (Nowa Zelandia/Israel-Premier Tech) 58 5. Giulio Ciccone (Włochy/Trek-Segafredo) ten sam czas 6. Andreas Kron (Dania/Lotto Dstny) ten sam czas ... 47. Rafał Majka (Polska/UAE Team Emirates) 2.40 Klasyfikacja generalna: 1. Primoz Roglic (Słowenia/Jumbo-Visma) 28:19.10 2. Remco Evenepoel (Belgia/Soudal-Quick Step) 6 s 3. Joao Almeida (Portugalia/UAE Team Emirates) 2.11 4. Marc Soler (Hiszpania/UAE Team Emirates) 2.49 5. Mikel Landa (Hiszpania/Bahrain Victorious) 2.59 6. Michael Woods (Kanada/Israel-Premier Tech) 3.03 ... 36. Rafał Majka (Polska/UAE Team Emirates) 24.42.
RM, PAP
