Irish cyclist Dan Martin will take a 17 second lead into the final stage of the Volta a Catalunya after winning an intermediate sprint on Saturday’s penultimate between Almacelles to Valls.
The Garmin-Sharp rider gained three seconds on general classification by taking the sprint after 30 kilometres and finished the stage in 13th spot after a sprint finish.
Australia’s Simon Gerrans of the Orica-GreenEdge team took the 179km sixth stage in 3:55.46 from Belgium’s Gianni Meersman of Omega Pharma - Quick-Step.
Spain’s Joaquim Rodriguez remains in second place on GC from Martin, with Colombia’s Nairo Quintana 45 seconds behind the Irish rider in third place.
Olympic and Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins is in fourth position, 54 seconds adrift of Martin.
Sunday's final stage is a 122km trip from El Vendrell to Barcelona, where the riders will have to handle eight trips up the steep Monjuic hill.
STAGE SIX RESULTS
(Almacellas - Valls, 178.7 km): 1 Simon Gerrans (Australia/Orica) 3:55:46, 2 Gianni Meersman (Belgium/Omega Pharma-Quick-Step) ST, 3 Samuel Dumoulin (France/AG2R), 4 Daniele Ratto (Italy/Cannondale), 5 Danilo Wyss (SwitzerlandBMC Racing), 6 Julien Simon (France/Sojasun), 7 Daniel Moreno (Spain/Katusha), 8 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha), 9 Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark/Astana), 10 Rigoberto Uran (Colombia/Team Sky), 11 Danail Petrov (Bulgaria/Caja Rural), 12 Jurgen Van den Broeck (Belgium/Lotto), 13 Daniel Martin (Ireland/Garmin), 14 Nicki Sorensen (Denmark/Saxo-Tinkoff), 15 Thibaut Pinot (France/FDJ), 16 Georg Preidler (Austria/Argos), 17 Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Movistar), 18 Steve Morabito (Switzerland/BMC Racing) +5".
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION (after 5th of 6 stages)
1 Daniel Martin (Ireland/Garmin) 26:16:22, 2 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain/Katusha) +17 secs, 3 Nairo Quintana (Colombia / Movistar) +45", 4 Bradley Wiggins (Britain/Team Sky) +54", 5 Michele Scarponi (Italy/Lampre) +55", 6 Robert Gesink (Netherlands/Blanco) +1:07",
