Nicolas Roche jumped off the front in the closing stages in Catalunya in the hunt for a stage win and the leader's jersey (Photo: Sirotti)
Despite the presence of a number of climbs along the course, including a cat 1 ascent, Monday’s opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya looked ripe from a big bunch finish.
And while the sprinters did indeed have their day, it wasn’t for the want of trying on the part of Nicolas Roche.
The Irishman riding for Team Sky put in a very impressive surge with 6km remaining on the 175.8km stage which started and finished in Calella.
With Roche and his team mates on the front of the peloton as the field hurtled towards the finish, the Irishman countered an attack by Björn Thurau (Wanty-Groupe Gobert) and found himself front alone.
Advertisement
Sensing a decent chance to nick a stage win and take the first leader’s jersey of the race, Roche put his head down on the wide main roads.
nicolas roche's bid for the stage win in "Volta" Ciclista a Catalunya, A.E.
Posted by Sticky Bottle on Tuesday, 22 March 2016
Related News
Driving a huge gear, he put considerable daylight between himself and the bunch which peaked at about 12 seconds before Orica-GreenEdge took up the chase.
And while the Irish rider refused to yield as the gap began to close, he was eventually swept up just over 1km from the finish.
The field then stayed intact to the finish where Nacer Bouhanni comfortably took the stage win for Cofidis along with a 10 second bonus and the race lead.
Ben Swift (Team Sky) was 2nd, a repeat of his placing in Milan-Sanremo, and South African Daryl Impey was 3rd for Orica-GreenEdge.
Daniel Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) finished on the same time as the stage winner; the former overall victor coming home in 17th place.
And Roche remained in the bunch when he was caught and also finished in the winner's time, filling 93rd place.
Tomorrow’s stage 2 takes the riders 172km from Girona to La Molina; a stage that is hilly in the middle but should be one for the sprinters again before the climbing starts on Wednesday.
Stage 1: Calella-Calella (175.8km)
1 Nacer Bouhanni (Fra) Cofidis 4:28:51
2 Ben Swift (GBr) Team Sky
3 Daryl Impey (RSA) Orica-GreenEdge
4 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Wanty - Groupe Gobert
5 Aleksei Tsatevich (Rus) Team Katusha
6 Carlos Barbero (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
7 Jordi Simon (Spa) Verva ActiveJet Pro Cycling
8 Kévin Reza (Fra) FDJ
9 Eduard Prades (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
10 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Giant-Alpecin
Topics
