The seventh and final stage of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya proved no let up today with another fast and frantic day of racing, one which saw the team’s plans scuppered following a crash for Frank van den Broek in the closing stages of the race taking him out of contention. Having supported Van den Broek during the stage behind the day’s early breakaway, the three others still left in the race – Romain Combaud, Emils Liepinš and Tim Naberman – were tailed off as the front peloton was reduced to a small group on the tough closing circuits around Barcelona. Following a crash with around 45 kilometres to race, Van den Broek was able to ride on but ended his race before the finish.
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL coach Phil West commented: “As ever a tough final stage with the Montjuic circuit. We tried to bring Emils and Frank into position onto the circuit where we just had to try and race it out. Frank got caught in a crash and went down quite heavily and although he seemed OK we decided to be safe and for him to stop and get checked over – fortunately he’s fine. Emils rode a good final but the race was pretty intense. Towards the end he wasn’t able to follow so we didn’t compete in the stage in the end. It rounded off a hard week where teamwork continued in a good way and now we look forward to the racing to come.”
