Team Sky rider rolls the dice in Barcelona circuit
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Chris Froome (Team Sky) was aggressive in the final stage(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Chris Froome with Vuelta a Espana director Javier Guillén before the stage(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Chris Froome on the attack in the Volta a Catalunya's stage 7 finale
Chris Froome (Team Sky)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Team Sky looking after Chris Froome on the final day(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Alejandro Valverde crossed the line just half a bike length ahead of Jarlinson Pantano in the Volta a Catalunya's final stage
A day after his general classification hopes went up in flames, Chris Froome bounced back on the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya on Sunday, with a late attack on the Montjuïc circuit. Ultimately. The attack came to little, as Froome moved up just one position on GC, but it was a show of pride after losing so much time the day before.
Geraint Thomas also dropped out of the top-ten on stage 6 and was the first Team Sky rider to attack from the peloton. The move was short lived as the peloton shut down the breakaway attempt. Froome then launched his attack inside 10km to race and quickly pulled out a 15-second lead.
Froome, wearing the red KOM jersey on loan from race leader Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), enjoyed several kilometres off the front before the peloton brought him back. Valverde then sealed his overall win by winning the stage ahead of Jarlinson Pantano (Trek-Segafredo) as Froome crossed the line in 48th.
"We know this stage and we've seen how you can race on this parcours. It's nice to do something for the team and the Sky jersey. Obviously we lost everything yesterday. We waited as the laps went down, and we saw already that other teams were pulling so there was some interest in the stage win," sport director Nico Portal said.
Froome finished the race as the highest placed Team Sky rider in 30th place overall, 28:19 minutes down on Valverde while Thomas was 34th overall.
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