photo credits @ Cofidis
Nacer Bouhanni claimed the opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya today, after out-sprinting Ben Swift and Daryl Impey during the closing 100 meters.
Race Highlights
After the main field had reclaimed the last remaining breakaway rider, Louis Vervaeke (Lotto Soudal), along the final climb of the day, Team Sky came to the front of the peloton with 15 kilometers to go.
From there, several attacks set off during the final eight kilometers, most notably from Nicholas Roche (Team Sky) at the 5 kilometer mark.
However, the Irish rider was eventually caught during the final kilometer by the Tinkoff team.
As the race was shaping up for a sprint finale, Geoffrey Soupe led out Bouhanni, but the French rider instead decided to follow in the slipstream of Orica-GreenEdge’s Simon Gerrans and Team Sky’s, Swift.
Bouhanni’s move paid off, as the Cofidis rider stormed past Swift during the waning moments to seize the stage victory by a mere half a bike’s length.
Stage 1 Results FRA 1 BOUHANNI, Nacer (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) 4:28:51 GBR 2 SWIFT, Ben (SKY) RSA 3 IMPEY, Daryl (ORICA GreenEDGE) ITA 4 GASPAROTTO, Enrico (WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT) RUS 5 TCATEVICH, Aleksei (KATUSHA) ESP 6 BARBERO CUESTA, Carlos (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) ESP 7 SIMON CASULLERAS, Jordi (VERVA ACTIVEJET PRO CYCLING TEAM) FRA 8 REZA, Kévin (FDJ) ESP 9 PRADES REVERTE, Eduard (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) AUT 10 PREIDLER, Georg (GIANT – ALPECIN) USA 11 REIJNEN, Kiel (TREK – SEGAFREDO) COL 12 PANTANO GOMEZ, Jarlinson (IAM CYCLING) SWE 13 LUDVIGSSON, Tobias (GIANT – ALPECIN) BEL 14 GILBERT, Philippe (BMC RACING) NED 15 VAN DER LIJKE, Nick (ROOMPOT – ORANJE PELOTON)
General Classification after Stage 1 FRA 1 BOUHANNI, Nacer (COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS) 4:28:41 GBR 2 SWIFT, Ben (SKY) + 4 RSA 3 IMPEY, Daryl (ORICA GreenEDGE) + 6 AUS 4 MEYER, Cameron (DIMENSION DATA) + 9 ITA 5 GASPAROTTO, Enrico (WANTY – GROUPE GOBERT) + 10 RUS 6 TCATEVICH, Aleksei (KATUSHA) ESP 7 BARBERO CUESTA, Carlos (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA) ESP 8 SIMON CASULLERAS, Jordi (VERVA ACTIVEJET PRO CYCLING TEAM) FRA 9 REZA, Kévin (FDJ) ESP 10 PRADES REVERTE, Eduard (CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA)
You must be logged in to post a comment.
