<p>A courageous day-long break in the Tour of Catalunya by HTC-Highroad rider Gatis Smukulis earned the Latvian both the stage win and the overall lead.</p><p>
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The 23-year-old took off in the first hour of racing on the 166 kilometer stage, and was joined by three other riders.</p><p>
</p><p>
Smukulis shook off all the other breakaways close to the finish in Lloret de Mar before he powered across the line alone and ahead of the main pack for HTC-Highroad's 18th win of the 2011 season.</p><p>
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"I'm really surprised that I could win today," Smukulis said, "I'm in good shape for the Classics, but these sorts of long breaks don't normally work out."</p><p>
</p><p>
"There were a lot of attacks, it was a fast start, and then we got away on a bit of a downhill."</p><p>
</p><p>
"I worked hard to open up the gap in the first half of the stage and then concentrated on keeping my strength for the final part of the day, which I knew would be tough."</p><p>
</p><p>
"The last 20 kilometers were flat or downhill and that made a real difference, otherwise for sure they would have caught us."</p><p>
</p><p>
"It was a good day for getting away because it was very hilly, the first stage of a difficult race and no team wanted to take control chasing behind," added HTC-Highroad's sports director Allan Peiper.</p><p>
</p><p>
"But it was close, Gatis had to work really hard to get this win today and he deserved to get the victory."</p><p>
</p><p>
Smukulis's win is the latest in a string of major victories for HTC-Highroad, coming a week after Tony Martin won Paris-Nice in France and two days after Matt Goss took the Milan-San Remo Classic in Italy.</p><p>
</p><p>
HTC-Highroad for Tour of Catalunya: Caleb Fairly (USA), Patrick Gretsch (Ger), Craig Lewis (USA), Frantisek Rabon (Cze), Konstantsin Siutsou (Byl), Gatis Smukulis (Lat), Maritn Velits (Svk).</p>
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</p><p>
The 23-year-old took off in the first hour of racing on the 166 kilometer stage, and was joined by three other riders.</p><p>
</p><p>
Smukulis shook off all the other breakaways close to the finish in Lloret de Mar before he powered across the line alone and ahead of the main pack for HTC-Highroad's 18th win of the 2011 season.</p><p>
</p><p>
"I'm really surprised that I could win today," Smukulis said, "I'm in good shape for the Classics, but these sorts of long breaks don't normally work out."</p><p>
</p><p>
"There were a lot of attacks, it was a fast start, and then we got away on a bit of a downhill."</p><p>
</p><p>
"I worked hard to open up the gap in the first half of the stage and then concentrated on keeping my strength for the final part of the day, which I knew would be tough."</p><p>
</p><p>
"The last 20 kilometers were flat or downhill and that made a real difference, otherwise for sure they would have caught us."</p><p>
</p><p>
"It was a good day for getting away because it was very hilly, the first stage of a difficult race and no team wanted to take control chasing behind," added HTC-Highroad's sports director Allan Peiper.</p><p>
</p><p>
"But it was close, Gatis had to work really hard to get this win today and he deserved to get the victory."</p><p>
</p><p>
Smukulis's win is the latest in a string of major victories for HTC-Highroad, coming a week after Tony Martin won Paris-Nice in France and two days after Matt Goss took the Milan-San Remo Classic in Italy.</p><p>
</p><p>
HTC-Highroad for Tour of Catalunya: Caleb Fairly (USA), Patrick Gretsch (Ger), Craig Lewis (USA), Frantisek Rabon (Cze), Konstantsin Siutsou (Byl), Gatis Smukulis (Lat), Maritn Velits (Svk).</p>
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