Tour of Catalunya: Stage Seven

Prior to the start of the Tour of Catalunya, who would have predicted that, in the end, it would be Dan Martin who would claim overall victory? It may not have been expected, but Dan Martin has frequently proved he has the climbing legs and he once again demonstrated this during the decisive queen stage (stage four) when he managed to get away and stay away, putting time into his GC rivals. It was evident that Martin really wanted the overall victory, as he sprinted for bonus seconds available for intermediate sprints on a number of occasions, which meant that he finished the race with a 17 second advantage over Rodriguez.

As for stage seven, it was Thomas De Gendt who went on to take the victory, after bridging the gap between the peloton and a ten man breakaway alongside David Lopez. Scarponi also made his way across, as did Kiserlovski, which forced Movistar to work alongside Garmin to bring the breakaway back in hopes of defending their man, Quintana's, podium spot. It was too little, too late, though, as De Gendt, Lopez, Kiserlovski, Scarponi and Dumoulin finished 21 seconds ahead of the peloton, with Scarponi making up enough time to finish third in the GC, and Quintana being pushed back into fourth position. It was certainly an exciting end to a closely fought race!