Sergio Higuita new leader of the general standings and Nairo is fourth after stage 6 of the Vuelta a Catalunya 2022

A leak put Sergio Higuita as the new leader of the Vuelta a Catalunya one stage away from finishing the race, one of the most important week-long events of the World Tour. The Catalan competition kicked off this Saturday with the Portuguese Joao Almeida of UAE Team Emirates as the new leader of the overall standings, followed by Nairo Quintana of Arkea Samsic who was unable to defend the leader's shirt in one of Friday's flying goals. Meanwhile, Higuita started third, 7 seconds behind the main runner.

The route of the sixth stage proposed 168.6 km between Salou and Cambrils. There the pedalists had to overcome 3 mountain passes: two of the 2nd category and one of the 1st category, which was the key for the strongest rivals to seek to tighten the pace and look for a leak.

Nairo and Almeida, who had been the protagonists of the first days of the mountain, were in the sights of the fans hoping that they could make great moves that would lead them to better define the best of the competition in the absence of a day to meet the champion of this round in its 2022 edition.

The Tour of Catalonia also dawned with a considerable list of runners who did not take the game, including former Movistar Team world champion Alejandro Valverde, Michael Woods of Israel Start Up Nation and two gregarians from Colombia's Estaban Chaves at EF Education EasyPost: Odd Christian Eiking and Neilson Powless.

In the first kilometers of the race, the lot kept calm and constant vigilance towards the runners who could attack, however, in the absence of 80 km, the Antioquian Sergio Higuita del Bora and the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz of the Ineos Grenadiers took the initiative by launching a strong attack on the platoon and gradually taking, kilometer by kilometre more and more advantage until it was over 3 minutes even when there were 40 km to the finish line.

In the group where Colombian Nairo Quintana and leader Joao Almeida were traveling, the UAE put forward the strongest gregarians in the promotions to be able to close the gap between the escape and them. However, Higuita and Carapaz advanced very concentrated in the face of the descents that became quite complicated.

The young Antioquian's bet with the Olympic champion this day was admired by several social media users who praised the gallantry of the two Latin American riders who put Nairo Quintana on the ropes, who was the top favorite to win the title of this edition.

Higuita frightened and put the nerves on end the fans of cycling in Colombia who saw as the main protagonists their two compatriots fighting to take the lead in the overall classification.

Almeida, less than 10 km from the finish, lost Nairo's wheel and gave up time, while Nairo remained in a small chase group watching how out of his hands he was going to get as a leader to the last stage.

HiGuita and Carapaz worked together to achieve the feat in the end, each drawing their winnings ahead of the auction in Barcelona on Sunday. Sergio Higuita has finally taken the lead in the race while Richard Carapaz manages to get on the podium and adds one more stage win to his wide track record after a very tight sprint with the Colombian. Nairo was 4th overall behind Portuguese Joao Almeida.

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