Tadej Pogacar wins Volta a Catalunya's queen stage with fearless 30-kilometer solo attack

There were little questions on whether Tadej Pogacar could win his third mountain stage out of three at the Volta a Catalunya, and the race leader comfortably sealed the deal. Despite having a massive lead over the rest, the Slovenian soloed into victory with an attack 30 kilometers away from the finish.

A wild day of racing on the menu, it started off with a tough fight to form the day's breakaway. Not many riders had the legs to be up there in the moves, ultimately Bauke Mollema and Hugh Carthy formed the front group which never truly got too much of a gap.

The gruesome climb of the Col du Pradell was going to be a crucial moment in the day, and although the pace was relatively comfortable or most of the climb, both breakaway riders were caught before the toughest part of the climb; and there the pace of UAE Team Emirates shred the peloton to bits.

Visma took to the front briefly but dropped their own leader Sepp Kuss in the process. 12 riders went over the summit; Marc Soler kept pushing the pace as the groups organized behind to form some sort of chase. However on the penultimate categorized climb of the day there was no stabilizing.

Pogacar started the day with over two minutes of lead but decided to still attack. Not only did he attack, but he dropped the competition once again and rode away by himself off the front. What followed was a 30-kilometer solo move through the difficult climbs where he kept expanding his gap. Pogacar rode to another very impressive victory where he cements the overall win of the Catalan race.

Landa managed to get a gap over the rest when Pogacar attacked. Egan Bernal made a move from the chasing group at the top of the climb and connected to the front in the descent. The duo worked together to take time on the rest of the competition, whilst riders arrived behind in small groups, with big gaps created on the day.