Egan Bernal and Nairo Quintana they fought the first stage of the Return to Catalonia, which took place this Monday with start and finish in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, after 173 kilometers, in which the victory and the leadership belonged to Nick Schultz.
The day was marked by several mountain prizes, which moved the peloton. However, the big favorites had no problems.
Iván Sosa, about 40 kilometers from the finish, fell without serious consequences, as he was able to continue in the fraction, although with a little pain.
Important were the seconds that Bernal won in a special sprint in which he crossed first, second was Tadej Pogacar, the great favorite, and third was Laurens de Plus.
The Colombian got three seconds in his favor compared to two for the Slovenian cyclist from the UAE Emirates, who comes to this test with the aim of winning it.
Harold Tejada managed to get into the top ten of the stage, thanks to the final slope in which several people accelerated, including Pogacar, who came second.
In the end, Bernal had a problem with other cyclists, he did not enter the finish line in the main group, but he will be given the same time as that group, since the incident occurred within the three kilometer rule.
Quintana, for his part, was attentive to any movement of his boss, the Spaniard, Enric Mas, who entered with the other riders, who will fight for the general classification.
The second day will be key, as it will end on a high. It will be held this Tuesday between Mataró and Vallter 2000, 186 kilometers long, in which the big climbs will appear.
It will cross the Coll de Coubet (first class) and end with the climb to Vallter (special category), at 2,135 meters high.
Classifications
Stage
1. Nick Schultz 4h 11m 38s
2. Tadej Pogacar mt
3. Stephen Williams MT
4. Dorian Godon at 2 s
5. Axel Laurence mt
6. Remy Rochas mt
7. Ilan van Wilder mt
8. Aleksandr Vlasov mt
9. Sepp Kuss mt
10. Harold Tejada mt
General
1. Nick Schultz
Sports
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