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Pogacar dominates second mountain stage in Volta Catalunya

Slovenian cycling superstar Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) also won Wednesday's queen stage of the Volta a Catalunya to extend his overall lead

Pogacar dominates second mountain stage in Volta Catalunya

The two-time Tour de France winner followed Spaniard Mikel Landa's attack with under eight kilometres to go and then flew past him in another show of strength after his dominant performance to claim stage two.

It was another mountainous Pyrenees route from Sant Joan de les Abadesses to Port Aine over 176.7 kilometres and the Slovenian UAE Team Emirates rider capitalised by putting nearly a minute into Landa.

The Soudal Quick-Step rider came in second and is also second overall, with Italian Antonio Tiberi third over the line.

"It definitely wasn't easy, it's a really hard climb," Pogacar told the Media afterwards, "There was not enough oxygen, it was super hard. Once again, a super good stage from us, from the team, and I'm happy to take the win."

Despite his strong performance, Pogacar said he was tired in the final kilometres, "It was Mikel who attacked first, I went over him, I saw he already made the gap and I was thinking maybe it's too early but I found a good rhythm and until the last two kilometres I could still push good," he added. "The last two was a bit tough but I still managed to finish well."

Pogacar extended his lead at the top of the general classification to two minutes and 27 seconds, and is firm favourite to win the race ahead of an ambitious tilt at a 2024 Giro-Tour double.

Bora-Hansgrohe rider Aleksandr Vlasov, third, trails Landa by 28 seconds, while Frenchman Lenny Martinez of Groupama-FDJ is fourth.

"I am happy, the objective was to eke out more lead on third place," Landa stated, "There's a long way to go to defend this second place, I want to finish on the podium."

Thursday's stage four, a 169km run from Sort to Lleida, is expected to end in a bunch sprint with the second half of the race almost entirely on flat terrain.

HIGHLIGHTS: Stage 3 Finish Volta a Catalunya 2024

2024 Volta a Catalunya Stage 3 Top 10

1  POGACAR Tadej UAE Team Emirates 4:34:25
2  LANDA Mikel Soudal Quick-Step 0:48
3  TIBERI Antonio Bahrain - Victorious 1:03
4  POELS Wout Bahrain - Victorious 1:03
5  KUSS Sepp Team Visma | Lease a Bike 1:03
6  VLASOV Aleksandr BORA - hansgrohe 1:10
7  RODRÍGUEZ Cristián Arkéa - B&B Hotels 1:10
8  HARPER Chris Team Jayco AlUla 1:10
9  MARTINEZ Lenny Groupama - FDJ 1:10
10  MAS Enric Movistar Team 1:10

2024 Volta a Catalunya GC after Stage 3

1  POGACAR Tadej UAE Team Emirates 13:38:12
2  LANDA Mikel Soudal Quick-Step 2:27
3  VLASOV Aleksandr BORA - hansgrohe 2:55
4  MARTINEZ Lenny Groupama - FDJ 3:21
5  HARPER Chris Team Jayco AlUla 3:22
6  MAS Enric Movistar Team 3:27
7  KUSS Sepp Team Visma | Lease a Bike 3:34
8  POELS Wout Bahrain - Victorious ,,
9  BERNAL Egan INEOS Grenadiers 3:50
10  ALMEIDA João UAE Team Emirates 3:52