The Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) gave the first blow on the table of the Tour of Catalonia by winning the uphill sprint of the first stage, starting and ending in Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Girona), where he had his first one-on-one with the other great favorite of this race, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Quick-Step) , which was second.
Roglic, first leader
So, Roglic is the first leader of this Volta thanks to bonuses and is four seconds ahead of Evenepoel. Dutchman Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe) was third. The leg-breaking tour of the Costa Brava, with four ports (one in the second category and three in the third category), was enough for the great favorites to dare to try themselves for the first time.
With five kilometers to go, there was a fall with several cyclists involved and the person who suffered the most was the Italian Dario Cataldo (Trek-Segafredo). Shortly before entering the town of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, on a straight line, his compatriot Kristian Sbaragli (Alpecin) lost control of his bicycle and caused a multiple fall.
!!!Primoz Roglic win!!! The Slovenian rider from Jumbo Visma wins the first stage of the Volta a Catalunya, in a final duel with the world champion Remco Evenepoel, in his first head-to-head.😍💪👍 pic.twitter.com/GtOanosoVO
— ⚡Maza⚡ (@MazaCiclismo) March 20, 2023
on stage, Esteban Chaves (EF) was the best Colombian, arriving in 17th place, with the same time as Roglic. Rigoberto Urán (EF), without a time difference, was 21. Egan Bernal (Ineos) entered from 32, 10 seconds behind the leader. Einer Rubio (Movistar) arrived from 49, to 10 s. Harold Tejada (Astana) was 88, 47 seconds behind Roglic. Iván Ramiro Sosa, from Movistar, entered 98, with the same time as Tejada, as did Camilo Ardila (Burgos BH), who was 101.
This Tuesday, the peloton will already face the first of the three mountain stages of this edition of the Vuelta, ending at the Vallter ski resort (Girona), located at 2,135 meters above sea level. There will be the first duel between Roglic and Evenepoel. The stage will leave Mataró (Barcelona) and will cover 165.4 kilometers to Vallter. Before reaching the ski resort, two other passes will be climbed, the third-category Alt de Can Bordoi and the first-category Coll de Coubet.
General ranking
1. Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) 3 h 48 min 7 s
2. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal) at 4 seconds
3. Ide Schelling (Bora) at 6 s
4. Maxim Van Gils (Lotto) 10 seconds away
5. Giulio Ciccone (Trek) mt
17. Esteban Chaves (EF) mt
21. Rigoberto Urán (EF) mt
32. Egan Bernal (Ineos) at 16 s.
49. Einer Rubio (Movistar) mt
88. Harold Tejada (Astana) at 57 s.
98. Iván Sosa (Movistar) mt
101. Camilo Ardila (Burgos) mt
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*With EFE
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