Richard Carapaz wins stage six as Higuita storms race lead in historical raid in Catalunya

Richard Carapaz and Sergio Higuita sat third and ninth in the overall classification at the start of the sixth stage of the Volta a Catalunya. The duo attacked the race with around 130 kilometers to the finish and worked together to hold off the peloton in an incredible fashion and to climb to first and second in GC. The INEOS Grenadiers rider took the stage win, whilst the BORA - hansgrohe rider climbed to the race lead.

The hostilities opened up early on, as the day clearly favoured a breakaway for stage success. There was an intense battle over the run-up and the first climb of the day, that turned from a stage fight into a GC fight as some of the riders who are high up in the overall classification got in the battle. There were several attacks, explosive racing, and still within the first climb of the day there was an attack from Sergio Higuita, Richard Carapaz and Luke Plapp who got a gap over the chasing group that did not include the race leader João Almeida.

Almeida reconnected with the main group, whilst Plapp dropped in front. What happened afterwards is that the South American duo have pulled off one of the most impressive GC raids in modern cycling. They have gathered a gap that had it's maximum at 3:30 minutes despite the constant chase of UAE Team Emirates in the peloton, and managed to survive until the finish of the rainy and chaotic stage with 48 seconds over the peloton.

One where UAE found themselves with no help throughout most of the day. Almeida struggled in the descents, and with no help the gap grew to unrecoverable dimensions. Uno-X, alongside a late attack in the final descent by Bahrain - Victorious saw the gap come down, but the stage was in the leading duo.

BikeExchange also worked as Kaden Groves resisted the peloton's rhythm, and the Australian sprinted for third place.