The 2025 Volta a Catalunya began this Monday with a tremendous opening stage. The first day of the race was contested under heavy rain, and with a bumpy course, the spectacle was guaranteed.
Tibor del Grosso found himself alone after the final descent due to a breakaway from the peloton. He didn’t know whether to wait for Kaden Groves on the final climb to the finish line, just when it seemed his teammate was going for the win. Matthew Brennan stole the victory from both riders at the finish line. A spectacular victory for the talented rider from Visma.
In terms of its development, the first stage of the Volta a Catalunya began with a breakaway forming very early on. With 175 km to go, Danny van der Tuuk and Jan Castellón attacked at the front of the peloton, and found two key partners in José Luis Faura and Nicolás Alustiza to confirm the breakaway.
The breakaway was confirmed with 169 kilometers to go. Two riders from Euskaltel Euskadi, one from Burgos Burpellet BH, and one from Caja Rural – Seguros RGA were the protagonists at the front of the race. Their largest advantage came with 140 km to go, when the peloton let the breakaway gain a 4-minute lead.
But there was never any serious concern about the breakaway taking the win. In fact, after the first climb of the day, the Coll de Begur, the lead was reduced to 2 minutes and 40 seconds.
The rain intensified near the Alt de Santa Pellaia. On this second climb, the four breakaway riders minimized the inevitable damage and reached the summit 2 minutes and 25 seconds behind the main group. But the neutralization was only a matter of time.
INEOS Grenadiers, which is racing the Volta with Egan Bernal as the overall leader, went to work at the front of the peloton, making life miserable for the breakaway. Halfway through the stage, just over 80 kilometers from the finish, the lead was reduced to 1 minute.
The breakaway lived out its final kilometers on the approach to the first finish in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. With 60 kilometers to go, precisely on that first finish, the breakaway was neutralized by the peloton, which took the lead.
Because the rain continued to rain and there were still many kilometers left, it was difficult to attack again at the front of the peloton. With 40 kilometers to go, after the intermediate sprint in Llagostera, which Enric Mas won to earn a 3-second bonus in the general classification, with Primoz Roglic in third (a 1-second bonus for the Slovenian), the group remained complete. The first retirement of the Volta a Catalunya occurred on this first stage, 39 kilometers from the finish. Jon Agirre of Euskaltel Euskadi dropped the ball after a very difficult day. Alpecin-Deceuninck, on the other hand, wanted the stage to be decided with a sprint for Kaden Groves. Therefore, he began to lead the peloton with 27 kilometers to go.
With 20 kilometers to go, the stage enjoyed its final hilly stretch of climbs and descents before the finish. However, due to the rain, everyone rode very cautiously. Red Bull BORA had Roglic at the front of the pack, safe from possible crashes.
With 14 kilometers to go, Marc Soler began to pick up the pace at the front of the peloton. Juan Ayuso was right on his wheel. The peloton had thinned significantly in the final kilometers, and the favorites wanted to continue cutting it off.
Entering the final 10 kilometers, favorites Sepp Kuss and Geraint Thomas fell behind. At the front, UAE was still pushing the pace for Juan Ayuso, with Primoz Roglic, Egan Bernal, Enric Mas, Mikel Landa, and Nairo Quintana, among others, also leading a tightly divided peloton.
In the end, the most surprising thing possible happened at the finish line. Tibor del Grosso found himself alone after the final descent due to a break in the peloton. He didn’t know whether to wait for Kaden Groves on the final climb to the finish line, just when it seemed his teammate was going for the win, Matthew Brennan snatched the victory away from both riders at the finish line.
Source: www.ciclismoaldia.es