Roglic wins Volta a Catalunya with final-stage victory

Primoz Roglic is now a two-time winner of the Volta a Catalunya

Slovenia's Primoz Roglic sealed his second Volta a Catalunya title in three years with victory in the seventh and final stage in Barcelona.

Roglic, who won the Volta in 2023, finished 14 seconds clear of Belgian duo Laurens de Plus and Lennert van Eetvelt over the 88km route.

The 35-year-old Red-Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe rider started the final stage one second behind Juan Ayuso in the general classification, but finished the race 28 seconds ahead of the Spaniard.

"Beautiful - I had great fun here," said Roglic.

"I figured it out, I'm ready, the legs are ready so I was pretty much enjoying this week.

"A bit of holidays and then slowly start to build up towards the Giro [d'Italia]."

Britain's Simon Yates finished eighth in the final stage, 19 seconds behind Roglic, and ninth in the general classification, one minute 46 seconds adrift.

British teenager Matthew Brennan, 19, lit up the early part of the week-long race, sprinting to his first World Tour victory in the opening stage before following up with his second win in another sprint finish on stage five.

Elsewhere, Netherlands' Lorena Wiebes defended her Gent-Wevelgem title, winning the women's race in Belgium for her 100th career victory.

Denmark's Mads Pedersen, who won the men's race, also successfully defended his Flanders Field crown from last year.

Volta a Catalunya stage-seven results

1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) 1hrs 58mins 27secs

2. Laurens De Plus (Bel/Ineos Grenadiers) +14sec

3. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Bel/Lotto Cycling Team) +14sec

4. Dorian Godon (Fra/Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +19sec

5. Sylvain Moniquet (Bel/Cofidis) +19sec

6. Lorenzo Fortunato (Ita/XDS Astana Team) +19sec

7. Corbin Strong (NZ/Israel-Premier Tech) +19sec

8. Simon Yates (GB/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +19sec

9. Rudy Molard (Fre/Groupama-FDJ) +19sec

10. Axel Laurance (Fra/Ineos Grenadiers) +19sec

General classification after stage seven

1. Primoz Roglic (Slo/Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe) 24hrs 46mins 21secs

2. Juan Ayuso (Spa/AE Team Emirates-XRG) +28sec

3. Enric Mas (Spa/Movistar) +53sec

4. Mikel Landa (Spa/Soudal-QuickStep) +54sec

5. Lenny Martinez (Fra/Bahrain Victorious) +one min

6. Laurens De Plus (Bel/Ineos Grenadiers) +one min 20sec

7. Egan Bernal (Col/Ineos Grenadiers) +one min 31sec

8. Lennert Van Eetvelt (Bel/Lotto Cycling Team) +one min 33 sec

9. Simon Yates (GB/Team Visma-Lease a Bike) +one min 46sec

10. Richard Carapaz (Ecu/EF Education-EasyPost) +one min 59sec