Switzerland’s Michael Albasini riding for GreenEdge won the Tour of Catalonia on Sunday by 1 minute 30 seconds over Spaniard Samuel Sanchez who rides for Euskaltel. Frenchman Julien Simon riding for Saur-Sojasun, won the seventh and final stage, which was an undulating 119.8km test which started in Badalona and finished in the Catalan capital of Barcelona.
On the penultimate climb – the second category Alt de Tibidabo – Danielson dropped his Kazakh companion while the chasing group splintered behind him as they attempted to control the gap.
Danielson was eventually reeled back in, with Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank) launching a counter-attack on the descent and quickly gaining a comfortable advantage of over a minute.
However, the gap then came down almost as quickly as it went up and the Spaniard was caught well before the finish, paving the way for a few more fruitless attacks on the final climb of the Alt de Vallvidrera.
Finally, after a high-speed descent to the finish line, Simon struck for home in the closing metres and none of his rivals was able to come around him.