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Simmons takes wind-hit Tour of Catalonia stage six victory / Photo: © AFP
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Simmons takes wind-hit Tour of Catalonia stage six victory
US rider Quinn Simmons edged Pavel Bittner to take the sixth stage of the Tour of Catalonia on Saturday as dangerous winds played havoc on the planned route.
Home favourite Juan Ayuso retained his one second lead on Primoz Roglic at the top of the general classification, with Enric Mas a further 20sec back in third.
Stage six was on paper the toughest mountain stage of the race but the conditions led organisers to modify the route significantly, with only 25 kilometres of racing permitted.
What was supposed to be a 159 kilometre ride from Berga to a summit finish at Queralt turned into a largely flat loop starting and ending in Berga.
Visma's Matthew Brennan, who has won two stages this week, pulled out before the start, with his team saying the 19-year-old was being given "some extra rest".
The race began neutralised because of the dangerous winds and stayed that way until the final 25 kilometres.
General classification times were taken with five kilometres remaining, with UAE Team Emirates-XRG's Ayuso maintaining his slim advantage on 2023 winner Roglic.
Lidl-Trek's Simmons made an attack in the final stages and held off Team Picnic-PostNL's Bittner to claim victory.
The race finishes Sunday in Barcelona with an 88.2 kilometre ride up to the Olympic stadium on the city's Montjuic hill.
E.R. Xavier--JDB
