Matthews, leader of the Volta after winning the first stage

Michael Matthews (Team BikeExchange-Jayco) won the first stage of the Volta a Catalunya which was held this Monday, March 21 with start and finish in Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Girona), of 171.2 kilometers. Matthews became the first leader of the 101 edition of the Catalan race.

The Australian cyclist prevailed in the sprint. Second was Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) and third Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ). None of the favorites for the general lost time, although the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (INEOS) suffered a fall without consequences.

The first escape of this Volta starred alex molenaar (Burgos-BH). Then they added Charles Canal (Euskaltel Euskadi), Antonio Jesus Soto (Euskaltel Euskadi) and Raul Garcia (Kern Pharma) and jonathan caicedo (EF Education-Easy Post).

The wind prevented the peloton from calming down at any time, and a group of 19 cyclists, including the seven members of Team BikeExchange-Jayco, including its leader Simon Yates, distanced himself from the big group. This caused the alarms to go off in the teams of his rivals for the general classification and they finished the adventure with 50 kilometers to go. This was followed by Jonathan Caicedo and Alexander Molenaar, who were joined by Théo Delacroix (Intermarché Wanty), Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), Jonas Hvideberg (Team DSM) and Pieter Serry (Quick-Step). They managed to open a difference of more than a minute, but the peloton did not loosen at any time and the group of escapees was reduced until it was neutralized.

There was no time for any other adventure and the finish, slightly uphill, was territory for the sprinters. Matthews and Colbrelli sprinted side by sidebut in the last meters the Matthews held up better the effort and took the victory.

Classification of the 1st stage:

1 – MATTHEWS Michael (BikeExchange – Jayco) 3:47:11

2 – COLBRELLI Sonny (Bahrain – Victorious) mt

3 – PACHER Quentin (Groupama – FDJ) mt

4 – BAGIOLI Andrea (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) mt

5 – HIGUITA Sergio (BORA – hansgrohe) mt

6 – SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias (Trek – Segafredo) mt

7 – CLARKE Simon (Israel – Premier Tech) mt

8 – PRADES Eduard (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) mt

9- HOFSTETTER Hugo (Arkéa Samsic) mt

10- VALTER Attila (Groupama – FDJ) mt

General ranking:

1 – MATTHEWS Michael (BikeExchange – Jayco) 3:47:01

2 – COLBRELLI Sonny (Bahrain – Victorious) + 4″

3 – HVIDEBERG Jonas Iversby (DSM) + 4″

4 – PACHER Quentin (Groupama – FDJ) + 6″

5 – BAGIOLI Andrea (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) + 10″

6 – HIGUITA Sergio (BORA – hansgrohe) + 10″

7 – SKJELMOSE JENSEN Mattias (Trek – Segafredo) + 10″

8 – CLARKE Simon (Israel – Premier Tech) + 10″

9 – PRADES Eduard (Caja Rural – Seguros RGA) + 10″

10 – HOFSTETTER Hugo (Arkéa Samsic) + 10″