Volta a Catalunya: Alberto Contador survives crash on stage six

Alberto Contador avoided time losses despite crashing in the closing kilometres of stage six of the Volta a Catalunya as Team Sky’s Richie Porte retained the overall lead.

Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) fell on the flat run-in to the finish at Port Aventura and crossed the line 2min 39sec down on his rivals in the general classification.

However, because the incident happened inside the final 3km, race rules ensured he was given the same time as the rest of the peloton, which means he remains third overall, seven seconds adrift of Porte.

Porte had no such trouble and finished safely in the bunch, as did Domenico Pozzovivo (Ag2r-La Mondiale), who remains five seconds down on the Australian in second place with just Sunday’s seventh stage in Barcelona remaining.

Stage six was won by Sergei Chernetski (Katusha), who formed part of a 21-rider breakaway and then beat Julian Alaphillipe (Etixx – Quick-Step) into second place and Maciej Paterski (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) into third in a sprint finish.

Team Sky's Chris Froome endured another difficult day in the saddle as he continues to fight for race fitness following illness, finishing alongside the battered and bruised Contador in 94th.

Elsewhere on Saturday, Team Sky's Ben Swift retained his 41-second overall lead of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Italy as Francesco Chicchi sprinted to victory on stage three. The race ends on Sunday.

Volta a Catalunya stage six result

1 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Katusha, 4:42:47
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Etixx – Quick-Step, same time
3 Maciej Paterski (Pol) CCC Sprandi Polkowice, st
4 Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar, st
5 Jonathan Hivert (Fra) Bretagne-Seche Environnement, st
6 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing, st
7 Georg Preidler (Aut) Giant-Alpecin, st
8 Rudy Molard (Fra) Cofidis, st
9 Tom Danielson (USA) Cannondale-Garmin, +3secs
10 Carlos Verona (Esp) Etixx – Quick-Step, st
Selected others
29 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky, +1:50
91 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff-Saxo, st
94 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, +4:29

General classification

1 Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky, 27:42:57
2 Domenico Pozzovivo (Ita) Ag2r-La Mondiale, +5secs
3 Alberto Contador (Esp) Tinkoff-Saxo, +7
4 Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, +16
5 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Etixx – Quick-Step, +18
6 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana, +27
7 Darwin Atapuma (Col) BMC Racing, +43
8 Rafael Valls (Esp) Lampre-Merida, +43
9 Wilco Kelderman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo, +1:09
10 Dan Martin (Irl) Cannondale-Garmin, +1:35
Selected other
72 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, +39:25