Sánchez and Colom expect a sprint

By Monika Prell

Going into the final stage of the Volta a Mallorca, GC leader Luis León Sánchez (Caisse d'Epargne) is warily optimistic. According to todociclismo.com, he said that one difficult stage remains and the race is still not won.

"It's a victory for the whole team but it's still too early to celebrate. The last stage is complicated, and there can be some surprises," affirmed the 23-year-old. He thanked his teammates who "once more have worked well for me" and complained that "I lacked a bit of luck. I gave all in the last kilometer to win the stage. One of the keys for the good teamwork is the week we spent here on this island during our training camp."

His objectives for the final stage are "to control the race and to win the stage with Alejandro Valverde, Vicente Reynés, or José Joaquín Rojas, because the terrain is very good for them."

Sánchez is not the only one expecting a sprint. So is Toni Colom (Astaná), who won the stage on Wednesday. "It's a great recompense for me to forget the fall I suffered some hours before the first stage when I received a strong blow to my wrist." The stage will be "complicated like last year's because the time differences between the first riders are not very big, and we will race on small streets," but he thinks that the stage "will end in a sprint."