We Must Learn from Demoitie Death - Bugno

The president of the Professional Cyclists Association, Gianni Bugno, has demanded that lessons are learned following the death of the Belgian cyclist Antoine Demoitié, who was hit by a motorbike after a fall during the Gent-Wevelgem cycling classic on Sunday.

The 25-year-old rider was taken to the University Hospital of Lille after the accident during a section of the race in Northern France but his team, Wanty-Gobert, confirmed Demoitié’s death on Sunday night.

Bugno said: “About the terrible accident that caused the death of the rider Antoine Demoitié during the Gent-Wevelgem race, the CPA and all the riders demand to shed immediate light on the accident and the circumstances that have caused it as well as on any of the responsible involved parties.

“At this time of sadness and sorrow for the death of Antoine we do not want to make controversy, but we have so much frustration inside. We have always stated that the safety of the riders must be in first place in the discussions of the cycling stakeholders and at the last CCP meeting we specifically asked to communicate the strategies to improve security during the races.

“I do not want to accuse anyone but I want to make everyone reflect on the responsibility we have to ensure that a very high level of attention, awareness and control over safety standards during each race is maintained.”

A team statement on Twitter read: “Thanks for your overwhelming support. The team is touched by all the messages. We will bounce back and #RideForAntoine.”

The two-times Tour de France winner Chris Froome paid tribute to Demoitié on social media, saying: “So sad to hear of the passing of Antoine Demoitié. Condolences to his friends and family.”

Mark Cavendish said on Twitter: “Such tragic news. RIP Antoine Demoitié. My thoughts and condolences are with your family, friends and teammates.”

#AntoineDemoitieRIP

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Martin Finishes Third Volta a Catalunya

Nairo Quintana has become the third Colombian to win the Volta a Catalunya, with Great Britain’s Chris Froome finishing eighth overall.

Sunday’s final stage through Montjuic Park in Barcelona was won by Alexey Tcatevich but Froome finished the stage in 19th.

The reigning Tour de France champion, 30, battled through the final stage, attempting to put some distance between himself and Quintana and was clear in front for a period of the race before being pegged back by the chasing pack. The Colombian follows in the footsteps of his countrymen Álvaro Mejía and Hernan Buenahora, who won the race in 1993 and 1998 respectively

Froome’s compatriot Hugh Carthy finished the competition in ninth with Team Sky finishing third.

Dan Martin, the 2013 winner, finished third overall, 17 seconds behind Quintana and on the same time as defending champion Richie Porte of Australia.

Quintana, who took the lead at the end of the fourth stage of the week-long race in Spain, said: "There's a lot of emotion to have been able to beat my rivals. It gives me confidence that we are working well."

Final Classification

1. Nairo Quintana (Col/Movistar) 30hrs 50mins 19secs

2. Alberto Contador (Spa/Tinkoff) +7secs

3. Daniel Martin (Ire/Etixx - Quick-Step) +17secs

4. Richie Porte (Aus/BMC Racing) Same time

5. Tejay van Garderen (US/BMC Racing) +27secs

6. Romain Bardet (Fra/AG2R) +31secs

7. Ilnur Zakarin (Rus/Katusha) +42secs

8. Chris Froome (GB/Team Sky) +46secs

9. Hugh Carthy (GB/Caja Rural) +1min 01secs

10. Rigoberto Uran (Col/Cannondale) +1min 16secs

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Albasini Edges Volta a Catalunya

Michael Albasini (GreenEDGE) wrapped up overall victory at the Volta a Catalunya as Julien Simon (Saur-Sojasun) took the win on the final stage.

Frenchman Simon claimed his second stage win of the race in much the same fashion as his first - proving the fastest in a reduced field sprint after an undulating 119.8km test from Badalona to Barcelona.

Francesco Gavazzi (Astana) was second ahead of Damiano Cunego (Lampre-ISD) and Team Sky's Rigoberto Urán, with Albasini rolling in safely in the lead group to maintain his 1 minute 30 second advantage ahead of Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) in the overall standings.

Several probing attacks were made on the final three climbs of the day, but the terrain ultimately was not selective enough and the peloton regrouped before the finish.

Earlier a large breakaway formed but the main group did not allow them to stretch out much of an advantage on such a short stage.

Attacks

With two climbs still to go, Tom Danielson leapt out of the peloton and bridged across to the front of the race, which by then contained only Alexsandr Dyachenko (Astana) as the lone survivor of the breakaway group.

On the penultimate climb - the second category Alt de Tibidabo - Danielson dropped his Kazakh companion while the chasing group splintered behind him as they attempted to control the gap.

Danielson was eventually reeled back in, with Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) launching a counter-attack on the descent and quickly gaining a comfortable advantage of over a minute.

However, the gap then came down almost as quickly as it went up and the Spaniard was caught well before the finish, paving the way for a few more fruitless attacks on the final climb of the Alt de Vallvidrera.

After a high-speed descent into the finish, Simon struck for home in the closing metres and none of his rivals were able to come around him.

Brajkovic Wins Shorter Volta Stage

Inclement weather conditions played havoc in Spain as stage three at the Volta a Catalunya was shortened due to snow.

The race’s queen stage set out despite the risk of wintry conditions but it soon became apparent that the final climb up to Port-Aine would be impassable due to a thick layer of snow.

The decision was taken late into the stage to cut proceedings down to 155 kilometres with the finish relocated to Canturri.

Janez Brajkovic of Astana had the good fortune of taking the win after the day’s breakaway had built up an unassailable lead of around eight minutes when the finish was switched.

Michal Golas (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and Mickael Cherel (AG2R-La Mondiale) rounded out the podium.

That result appeared to turn the general classification on its head before the UCI dictated that the stage would not count towards the race's overall standings, allowing overnight leader Michael Albasini (GreenEDGE) to retain the leader's jersey.

During the stage a number of top contenders climbed off, clearly deciding discretion was the better part of valour ahead of goals later in the season.

Among those were Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins and Richie Porte, who alongside team-mate Kanstantsin Siutsou, abandoned the race mid-stage due to the freezing conditions.

After the stage with details scare, Team Sky's Sports Director Sean Yates who was able to shed some light on the situation.

He said: “Rigoberto [Urán], Xabi [Zandio] and [Davide] Appollonio finished today and the other guys pulled out because of the cold. The race obviously finished at kilometre 155 and the commissaires said on the radio that a decision would be made this evening about what happens.

“I don’t think the result can stand for GC. They can’t say the finish is 10k up the road when the break has an eight-minute lead. The bus is still at the finish and there’s around a half a metre of snow and it has to come back down. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

“The reason Bradley and Richie pulled out was because they were too cold to continue. They set out to get a result but they couldn’t keep warm enough. We’re in the dark as to whether they could start tomorrow. It’s a shame for us and everyone else that the conditions were such that they had to abandon the queen stage. The people who run the ski station said ‘you can’t come any further’ as it was too dangerous.

“For us, given that we had the guys going really well it’s thrown a spanner in the works but from a fitness point of view we know everything is fine.”