Volta a Catalunya

Stage 6:  El Vendrell to  Barcelona (Avinguda de l'Stadium), 161.9 km/101mi

By Cathy Mehl

Still firing on all cylinders, Team RadioShack’s Andreas Klöden continued to show good form on stage 6 of the Volta a Catalunya.  After yesterday’s second place finish, our German rider fought once again to land in sixth place behind leader Samuel Dumoulin of Cofidis.   The second slot was taken by his teammate Rein Taaramae with the podium rounded out by race leader Joaquin Rodriguez (Katusha).

Five category 3 climbs were on today’s stage with three closing laps that included a climb to Montjuic before crossing the finish line for the last time.  One-hundred sixty riders took part in the stage under warm temperatures and clear skies with some wind on the course. After a quick first hour and several tries to get away, a break finally stayed clear and included Dario Cataldo(Quick Step) and Jan Bakelandts ( Omega Pharma-Lotto)  who built a gap of almost four minutes.  But Katusha controlled the speed of the main field and by 15km to go the gap had fallen to 2-minutes and continued to drop from there.

After Thursday’s stage win, Saxo Bank’s Jen Voigt still had the form to attack in the final lap.  He was followed by Eros Capecchi (Footon-Servetto-Fuji) and the duo held 15 seconds.  But in the final kilometer the peloton caught them to neutralize the break and set up the mass sprint with Dumoulin grabbing the victory on the line.

Top Ten Results

1              Samuel Dumoulin (Fra) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne   4:04:45             

2              Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne                     

3              Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha                  

4              David Loosli (Ita) Lampre-Farnese Vini                     

5              Aitor Galdos (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi                      

6              Andreas Klöden (Ger) Team Radioshack                                 

7              Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo                  

8              Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne                        

9              Paolo Tiralongo (Ita) Astana                         

10           Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions

Team RadioShack on Stage 6

14           Haimar Zubeldia (Spa)

26           Jani  Brajkovic (Slo)

48           Levi Leipheimer (USA)

104         Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu) 0:03:02

121         Bjørn Selander (USA) 0:04:54

General Classification after Stage 6

1              Joaquin Rodriguez (Spa) Team Katusha                  22:43:42                

2              Xavier Tondo (Spa) Cervelo Test Team   0:00:10  

3              Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis, le Credit en Ligne    0:00:43  

4              Luis Leon Sanchez Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne       0:00:45  

5              Nicolas Roche (Irl) AG2R La Mondiale      0:01:20  

6              Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions                             

7              Michel Kreder (Ned) Garmin - Transitions             0:01:21  

8              Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo 0:01:22  

9              Jani  Brajkovic (Slo) Team Radioshack      0:01:25  

10           Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra) Française Des Jeux           0:01:26

Team RadioShack on Stage 6

21           Levi Leipheimer (USA)   0:02:00

23           Andreas Klöden (Ger)  0:02:16

61           Haimar Zubeldia (Spa)  0:20:05 

141         Tomas Vaitkus (Ltu)  0:59:42