Egan Bernal shone and stood on the podium of the Tour of Catalonia: Pogacar was crowned champion

Egan Bernal He once again showed firmness, confidence and that grit that allowed him to win the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France titles. This Sunday he shone again on the roads of Europe and took a place on the podium of the Return to Catalonia.

The 27-year-old rider made a masterful presentation in the Spanish race, in which he arrived as one of those called to fight for the title and give battle to the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, super favorite for the crown.

Bernal He waited for his moment to launch the attack and did so in stage 6, nothing better than in a high mountain fraction, with five places, considered the queen test of the Return to Catalonia.

His attack allowed him to jump from ninth place in the general classification to third place, after displacing the Spanish Enric Mas from the podium. Egan tried by all means to scratch for a few seconds to climb a few more squares, but Tadej Pogacar He showed himself invincible and Mikel Landa (second in the classification) put up a fight and held the pace.

Stage 7

The last stage seemed like a formality in the aspirations of the first in the general classification, the fraction disputed in Barcelona It had a route of 145.3 kilometers, with two mountain positions, one in the third category and the other in the second category, and two intermediate sprints.

But it was not like that, the day began with the fall of the Colombian Nairo Quintana in which the Dutchman Frank van der Broek was also involved. The official broadcast cameras focused on the runner from Cómbita, Boyacá when he got up from the ground and got into his team's car, thus abandoning the Tour of Catalonia.

Quintana, who was in box 32 overall, 21 minutes and 4 seconds behind the leader of the classification Tadej Pogacardid not have the best of returns to Europe with the Movistar Team and after his participation leaves many concerns.

In the end, the last stage was defined with an electrical packaging in which Pogacar He demonstrated all his power and gave no respite to his rivals, winning the fraction, the fourth in this Return to Catalonia who dominated from start to finish.

The best Colombian was Sergio Higuita, who arrived in the sixth box, with the platoon. While Egan Bernal He defended his podium by finishing in box 19 with the same batch time.

Second podium for Egan Bernal this year in Europe after what was done in the O Gran Camiño and third counting the National Road Championships. The cyclist continues to show that his recovery is on the right track and he can once again fight against the best in the world.

Classifications

Stage

1. Tadej Pogacar 3 hours 15 minutes and 23 seconds

2. Dorian Gogo mt

3. Guillaume Martin mt

4. Stephen Williams MT

5. Patrick Konrad mt

6. Sergio Higuita mt

7. David González mt

8. Antoni Tiberi mt

9. Aleksander Vlasov mt

10. Wouter Pouls mt

19. Egan Bernal mt

23. Iván Sosa mt

29. Einer Rubio 34s

35. Santiago Umba 34 s

59. Esteban Chaves 52 s

80. Harold Tejada 3 min 34 sec

108. Brandon Rivera 7 min 30 sec

Nairo Quintana abandoned

General

1. Tadej Pogacar 28h 21m 29s

2. Mikel Landa at 3 min 41 s

3. Egan Bernal 5 min 03 sec

14. Einer Rubio at 9 min 04 s

24. Esteban Chaves 15 min 21 s

33. Segio Higuita 27 min 42 s

47. Brandon Rivera 39 min

56. Iván Sosa 47 min

70 Harold Tejada 57 min 57 sec

Nairo Quintana abandoned