Cameron Meyer (Dimension Data) was so close to winning stage 6 at the Volta a Catalunya that he could almost touch the finish-line victory. But the Australian, who was in an all-day breakaway, was caught by a charging peloton with just 50 metres to go and the victory went to sprinter Davide Cimolai (Lampre-Merida).
"Our team plan was to have someone in the breakaway," Meyer said in a team press release. "I had suffered through the big mountains and was looking forward to today. I made a big effort all day and felt really good. Of course I am disappointed to get caught so close to the finish line but I guess that is bike racing and I will keep trying to get a victory. Our team has been in four breakaways this tour and shown ourselves up at the front of the race. We have just the one more stage tomorrow, finishing in Barcelona."
Meyer started the 11-man breakaway 55km into the day's 197.2km race. The move also included Petr Vakoc (Etixx-QuickStep), Esteban Chaves (Orica-GreenEdge), Laurens Ten Dam (Giant-Alpecin), Ryder Hesjedal (Trek-Segafredo), Bert-Jan Lindeman (LottoNL-Jumbo), Alex Howes (Cannondale), Axel Domont (AG2R-La Mondiale), Romain Hardy (Cofidis), Rudy Molard (Cofidis) and Marco Minnaard (Wanty-Groupe Gobert). They gained nearly five minutes on the field.
Meyer attacked again with 45km to go but the breakaway reformed, insight of the peloton with 20km to go. He tried again, this time bringing with him Vakoc, Lindeman and Molard and they held a slim 15 seconds.They were still out front with one kilometre to go, when Meyer attacked again to try and make it to the finsihline, and he almost did, but was caught with 50 metres to go.
"They rode well and kept options for the win right until the last metres," director, Alex Sans Vega said in a team press release. "Cameron being caught just before the line was a real pity but he did a really great job."
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