Australian Chris Harper has ended a fine week at the Volta a Catalunya with an excellent sixth place - but he was just part of a helpless support cast, bit-part players to Tadej Pogacar's out-of-this-world triumph.
The great Slovenian Pogacar continued his amazing tour with a fourth victory of the week on the seventh and final stage to Barcelona on Sunday, dominating in magnificent fashion again to win the race overall by a mammoth three minute-41 second margin from Spain's Mikel Landa.
Harper, spearheading the Australian Jayco AlUla team, battled home 11th on the final stage, the fourth time he had ended up in the top dozen on a stage over the week.
The 29-year-old from Melbourne finished on exactly the same time as fifth-placed Spaniard Enric Mas, less than a minute off the third spot on the podium, which went to former Tour de France winner Egan Bernal.
But the entire field were effectively in another race to two-time Tour de France winner Pogacar, who has begun his 2024 campaign in astounding fashion, even managing to win a sprint finish on Sunday after his extraordinary breakaway triumphs earlier in the week.
The Volta is a key part of Pogacar's preparations for May's Giro d'Italia, and on this form, he looks in a class of his own as he prepares for his Italian grand tour debut.
Pogacar wants to win all the sport's biggest seven week-long stage races. Having now added Catalunya to Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico, he will seek at some point to lift the others - the Tour de Romandie, Tour de Suisse, Criterium du Dauphine and Tour of the Basque Country.
He also hopes to become just the fourth rider to win the five 'Monument' one-day classics, with Milan-Sanremo and Paris-Roubaix on his hit-list after annexing the Tour of Flanders, Liege-Bastogne-Liege and Tour of Lombardy.
The UAE Team Emirates rider is seemingly hitting fresh peaks at 25, and suggested unashamedly earlier in the week that his ambition is to become the "best ever" cycle racer.
Behind Harper among the Australian contingent finishing in Barcelona was Nick Schultz (Israel Premier Tech), who finished 43rd in the final GC, and Bahrain-Victorious's Jack Haig (48th overall).
Meanwhile, another modern-day great, world champ Mathieu van der Poel, fresh from his brilliant E3 Saxobank triumph in the week, was beaten in the Gent-Wevelgem classic on Sunday in a sprint finish with former world champion Mads Pedersen.
Of the seven Australian starters in the 253.1km slog, Michael Matthews, runner-up in Milan-Sanremo, was the top finisher, but was way back in 62nd place, 4:20 behind Pedersen.
The women's Gent-Wevelgem race over 171.2km also came down to a sprint, won by Dutch rider Lorena Wiebes in a photo finish with Italy's former world champion Elina Balsamo.
Lidl-Trek's Lauretta Hanson was the top Australian in 31st place, with Grace Brown (FDJ-SUEZ) 37th.
