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Follow us on GoogleJonas Vingegaard put the finishing touches on matters in Queralt on Saturday at the Volta a Catalunya. The Visma | Lease a Bike leader was by far the strongest on the final climb after his team had spent the entire day on the front, keeping the gap to a powerful and dangerous breakaway under control.
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Before the stage, much of the discussion was still about everything that had happened on Friday. That was not only about Vingegaard’s victory or the time lost by Remco Evenepoel and the other contenders, but especially about the crash suffered by Tom Pidcock. The Brit from Pinarello-Q36.5 revealed after the stage that he had fallen into a ravine.
A day later, Pidcock thankfully reported that he had been very lucky after crashing at around 60 kilometres per hour, although the damage turned out to be more serious than initially thought. On Friday, it had seemed he had escaped without injury, but scans later showed damage to the knee ligaments and small fractures in the tibia and fibula area. “My knee is quite swollen and it’ll take time to heal,” Pidcock said after further checks, while his team had already stated on Friday evening that he had gone off the road after misjudging a corner on a descent.
Visma | Lease a Bike keeps strong breakaway within range
Without Pidcock, the peloton set off on Saturday’s mountain stage from Berga to Queralt. It began much like Friday had ended: chaotically. Michel Hessmann crashed during the neutralised section for Movistar, which delayed the start slightly. The German was eventually taken to hospital.
Once the stage properly got under way, a strong breakaway of fifteen riders quickly formed. Mattia Cattaneo, Richard Carapaz, Giulio Ciccone, Ramses Debruyne, Damien Howson, Andreas Leknessund, Bart Lemmen, Rudy Molard, Byron Munton, Nairo Quintana, Andrea Raccagni, Marc Soler, Jake Stewart, Embret Svestad-Bårdseng and Diego Uriarte all made it into the move.
With Leknessund the best-placed rider in the group and already some way down on general classification, Visma | Lease a Bike could have allowed the move more freedom. Instead, the Dutch team chose to keep the pace high with riders such as Menno Huising and Bruno Armirail, ensuring the lead never grew beyond two minutes.
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Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe and Evenepoel take up the chase
At the front, Carapaz, Ciccone, Soler and Svestad-Bårdseng proved the strongest, while João Almeida was once again dropped from the peloton early when Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe took over on the penultimate climb, with around 30 kilometres still to race. Not long after, the first attacks began to fly, launched by Oscar Onley and Lenny Martinez.
Then it was remarkably Remco Evenepoel who moved to the front himself. The Belgian went to work for Florian Lipowitz and, on the descent, managed to put number two on GC Felix Gall under real pressure. Evenepoel’s huge turn on the front paid off perfectly for his German team-mate, who was able to begin the final climb in an excellent position.
Once the road went uphill, Evenepoel continued to drive the pace, with Vingegaard glued to the Red Bull wheels. The Dane then launched his move with 2.5 kilometres to go and, after only a few hundred metres of acceleration, dropped everyone. That was that.
Results stage 6 Volta a Catalunya 2026
Results powered by FirstCycling.com
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Tom van der Salm (27) comes from the charming town of Zeilberg (Deurne) in the Netherlands and has been working as editor-in-chief & journalist at IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, In de Leiderstrui, since 2019. He travels with the peloton from the Tour de France to the AlUla Tour and from the World Championships in Rwanda or Canada to the Zilvermeercross in Mol. In his spare time he enjoys playing football, mountain biking, running, walking with his Labrador/Stabyhoun, investing, holidays, (specialty) beers, reading, cooking and watching sports & documentaries!
Contact: [email protected]
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Latest Comments
- Eight riders told to go for stages, and nobody gets one—hard to know what the plan was there. It’ll be interesting to see whether they pick a clear leader next time.bikebuffj10-11-2026
- Was Bernal’s 20th place really their best GC result? I thought he might have finished higher. Either way, it sounds like a rough Tour for the whole team.gearguru3310-11-2026
- Five days in breaks with no stage win is a painful stat. The team had chances, but they need to turn those opportunities into results.julien10-11-2026
- The Onley Vuelta example makes sense: a team with someone to rally around often looks much more cohesive. Hopefully INEOS can build on that rather than expecting a quick return to the Sky years.cadencekingm10-11-2026
- Thomas is right about the ambiguity. Eight riders all chasing stages can end up pulling in different directions, even if nobody’s deliberately working against anyone. They need a clearer plan once the GC leaders are out.robert6510-11-2026
- What a mess. The report makes it sound as though nobody properly explained the decision, and that’s hard to defend.jennifer1910-11-2026
- I’m still learning the rules: does moving left in a sprint automatically bring a penalty, or does it depend on whether the other rider is blocked? It sounds like Brand wasn’t impeded here.patriciaw10-11-2026
- A final decision still needs a proper explanation. If the federation’s complaint goes nowhere, I hope the officials at least review how they handled the riders afterwards.michael5410-11-2026
- Fair play to Lucinda for saying Marie had won fair and square. That kind of sportsmanship matters, especially after such a controversial decision.raceready710-11-2026
- Schreiber beat Brand on the road, so the jury needed to explain clearly why that slight deviation warranted relegation. Being cut off before she could give her account sounds appalling.lindae10-11-2026
