Juan Ayuso and Primoz Roglic were the two absolute favourites to win today's stage at the Volta a Catalunya and also the overall classification. At La Molina, it came down to a sprint between the two, but it was the UAE Team Emirates - XRG rider to take the victory on the first summit finish of the race.
A long day in the mountains, with 220 kilometers to race in Catalunya. Not a day where many looked to attack early on, as four riders comfortably took the lead of the race and began building their gap. Bruno Armirail, Lorenzo Germani, Alex Molenaar and Matz Wenzel spent a few hours in the head of the race, until Armirail attacked himself in the penultimate climb of the day.
Alone now, he got a gap of a maximum of 3 minutes and even began threatening to take the stage win unless the rhythm accelerated in the peloton. But most teams waited until the final ascent to La Molina to finally accelerate and begin thinning down the peloton properly.
The pace at the start of the climb was high, with a couple of moves from Nairo Quintana and Sepp Kuss seeing the speed increase quite a bit, but then a standstill between a 30-rider peloton. With just under 7 kilometers to go George Bennett, Lorenzo Fortunato and Marc Soler made a move, with all teams looking to put Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe under pressure. Bennett was dropped whilst Kuss bridged across with 4 kilometers to go, but the trio was caught with 500 meters to go at the start of the final ramp.
Marc Soler hit the front to leadout Juan Ayuso, but it was Primoz Roglic who launched first. However this wasn't enough as the Spaniard took him up on the final corner and sprinted for a brilliant photo-finish victory ahead of the Slovenian. The two had a small gap over the rest, with Mikel Landa taking third place.
Read also
| 1 | Ayuso Juan | UAE Team Emirates-XRG | 05:49:29 |
| 2 | Roglic Primoz | Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe | + 00 |
| 3 | Landa Mikel | Soudal Quick-Step | + 02 |
| 4 | Martinez Lenny | Bahrain Victorious | + 04 |
| 5 | Van Eetvelt Lennert | Lotto | + 04 |
| 6 | Mas Enric | Movistar Team | + 04 |
| 7 | Bernal Egan | INEOS Grenadiers | + 04 |
| 8 | López Martin | XDS Astana Team | + 04 |
| 9 | Carapaz Richard | EF Education-EasyPost | + 04 |
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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