Sergio Higuita: "It's great to finish this race with the overall win"

It has been a very eventful week for Sergio Higuita as he stormed to a brilliant and hard-worked win at the Volta a Catalunya. He didn't take a stage win, but a combination of strong performances and gutsy tactics have seen him rise into what was his first World Tour stage-race win.

"This win is very special for me because I have never won a WorldTour stage race. I'm of course very happy. I actually didn't sleep too well the previous night and was a bit tired, but I think the fact that I was leading in the general classification motivated me a lot and that gave me a lot of energy," Higuita said at the finale of the race's final stage. After starting the final day in the lead, the Colombian's task was to keep Richard Carapaz' wheel as the two were separated by 16 seconds, and he's done so successfuly.

"Today I really raced with my heart. It was a very hard day, but I managed to keep the gap to my competitors. The team did a great job all week and it's great to finish this race with the overall win. I was expecting a lot of attacks especially from Ayuso, Almeida, Carapaz and Quintana and the moves came as expected, but the team had things under control. I managed to not let Carapaz, who was very strong, escape and secure the win at the end of the day," he added.

After finishing with the best in La Molina and later in Boí Taüll, Higuita set for stage six in third place in the overall classification. However, that didn't prevent him from going all or nothing as he attacked together with Carapaz with 130 kilometers to go in what turned into one of the most impressive GC raids in modern cycling. It was a high-risk move, but the reward was equally as high and luck smiled on the BORA - hansgrohe rider this week.

"A big thanks to the whole team for their support throughout the week here in Catalunya," he concluded. Despite the successful season so far, Higuita still has a few races where he can prolong his run of form as he'll be racing Itzulia Basque Country and the Belgian Ardennes classics.