Samu secures second in Volta

Samuel Sánchez never had any trouble in hanging onto his second place overall in the Volta a Catalunya finale today - and even came close to repeating yesterday's feat.

The Euskaltel leader took off five clicks from the line in search of another stage win, but couldn't open up a decent gap and was rather quickly caught by a peloton keen to see the sprinters duke it out between them. Julien Simon blasted his way to win number two this week, while Samu finished a comfortable 16th.

Upon finishing the race, Samu spoke of the importance of getting some UCI points onboard.

"It's vital that we've started gathering points. The Volta is a very prestigious race, and it's positive we accumulated some points. My team-mates have worked ever so well throughout this race, and the four riders still left in the race did a great job today. I'm grateful for what they've done for me. For sure we'll go back home satisfied", Samu told the team's website.

Stage seven results:

• (1, Julien Simon, Saur-Sojasun)
• 16, Samuel Sánchez, s.t.
• 21, Miguel Mínguez, s.t.
• 59, Iván Velasco, 0:25
• 105, Jorge Azanza, 8:34
• 113, Victor Cabedo, 12:41

Final general classification:

• (1, Michael Albasini, GreenEdge)
• 2, Samuel Sánchez, 1:30
• 28, Miguel Mínguez, 8:06
• 45, Iván Velasco, 13:26
• 87, Jorge Azanza, 36:32
• 109, Victor Cabedo, 51:20

Euskaltel finished the race ranked 11th.