MADRID, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Tadej Pogacar of UAE Team Emirates confirmed his early season form and showed just how complete he is as a rider when he was crowned as the winner of the Tour of Catalonia on Sunday after sprinting to victory in the seventh and final stage.

The two-times Tour de France winner completely dominated the seven-day stage race, riding away from his rivals with apparent ease on the testing mountain top finishes in stage two, stage three and on Saturday's marathon sixth stage.

Those three convincing stage wins allowed Pogacar to take a comfortable lead over Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) into Sunday's final stage around the streets of Barcelona, which ended with six leg-breaking circuits.

Pogacar again showed he can do much more than climb and time-trial on a stage where his teammates Marc Soler and Joao Almeida both launched attacks to try to win the stage, but with Almeida reeled in by the bunch inside the last kilometer, Pogacar was well-placed to win the final stage in a small bunch sprint.

"I was just trying to follow the wheels and stay near the front. Joao [Almeida] made a good attack and almost got to the finish. But I'm happy that I was able to hold on," said the Slovenian at the finish line.

Pogacar took the overall title three minutes and 41 seconds ahead of Landa, while Bernal was third, just over five minutes behind the winner. Enditem

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