San Francisco Frontiers - Vingegaard nears Tour of Catalonia victory with stage six win

The race favourite accelerated away from the lead group with just over two kilometres to ride to clinch back-to-back stage triumphs in the Pyrenees mountains.

Danish Visma-Lease a Bike rider Vingegaard, who dominated at Paris-Nice earlier in March, finished 10 seconds ahead of Lenny Martinez and Florian Lipowitz, who finished second and third respectively.

Vingegaard holds a provisional 1 minute 22s lead overall on Martinez, while Lipowitz is third and a further eight seconds behind the two-time Tour de France winner.

The 158-kilometre final mountain stage in the lower Pyrenees, starting in Berga and ending at the Sanctuary of Queralt, looked ripe for another Vingegaard triumph and so it proved.

Double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel, who had fallen out of overall contention during a disappointing fifth stage, rode powerfully to help Red Bull team-mate Lipowitz.

However, Vingegaard's broke clear of the German and Frenchman Martinez of Bahrain Victorious with just over two kilometres remaining, and they could not reel him in after that.

Vingegaard is now well-placed to win the Tour of Catalonia in his first participation, adding it to a growing resume of high-profile stage races he has won.

The Dane has won the Vuelta a Espana, Tirreno-Adriatico, Criterium du Dauphine and the Tour of the Basque Country.

He has started the season in fine form ahead of his tilt at a Giro d'Italia-Tour de France double, having won two stages as well as the overall title at Paris-Nice, and now two more stages in Catalonia.

Felix Gall, who started the day second overall, dropped down to sixth, three minutes 17s behind Vingegaard, after he was distanced on a fast descent before the final climb.

The seventh and final stage on Sunday takes in seven circuits of the short Montjuic climb in Barcelona, where the Tour de France starts in July.

Briton Tom Pidcock did not start after a crash on Friday, even though he recovered to finish that stage, saying he needs a "bit of time for it to heal".

His Pinarello-Q36.5 team doctor said Pidcock "suffered injuries, most likely bone and ligament damage, in particular to his right knee and also right wrist", so had to pull out.

Saturday's racing was paused briefly near the start after Movistar's Michel Hessman crashed and had to be taken to hospital.

P.Thomas--SFF