The Volta a Catalunya got off to a flying start this Monday in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, the finish of the opening stage for the third year in a row. Before reaching the well-known last uphill kilometre, the peloton reduced quite a bit, but Rémy Rochas and Lenny Martinez perfectly coped with the difficulties. The oldest of the two was even able to get in the mix of the sprint and take a solid sixth place on the line. His young leader finished with the same time.
In a 2024 Volta a Catalunya particularly suited to the climbers, the punchers/sprinters already had to seize their chance on the opening stage this Monday, over 174 kilometres without major climbs. Only the Alt de Sant Grau (8 km at 4%), located twenty kilometres from the finish, really stood in their way. Simone Petilli, Kenny Elissonde, Alex Baudin, Adne Holter and Mikel Bizkarra first made up the day’s breakaway after fifteen kilometres, but Tadej Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates barely let a gap of two minutes throughout the entire day. “On paper, it wasn’t really the hardest stage, but it was very fast,” said Rémy Rochas. “It was always up and down, right and left, and the seaside was very winding. As a result, the pace was quite high all day. We were always in a good position, maybe even a bit too much from the start, but it wasn’t such a bad thing. Everyone did a good job. It was especially difficult for guys like Clément, Enzo, Eddy who were just behind UAE who were leading the chase.” For almost half of the stage, the Groupama-FDJ squad sat in second place in the pack, protecting its leader Lenny Martinez.
“It’s a good start”, Rémy Rochas
The bunch then passed the finish line for the first time with fifty kilometres to go, and the tempo kept on increasing from then on. The selection slowly took place from behind while the breakaway was caught thirty kilometres from the finish, just before the final classified climb of the day. “It went faster in the final, but we were still positioned where we needed to be with Lenny,” Rémy said again. “I tried to keep him by my side as much as possible and to calm him down. On the climb, we were in the middle between twentieth and twenty-fifth position, and that was more than enough. Then, we really moved back up in the right place at the right time, at the top of the climb. I didn’t panic, I waited until the last moment. At the top we were between fifth and tenth place, and everything went well.” On the downhill along the coast, the peloton stretched out, but the two climbers from Groupama-FDJ took advantage of their good position to avoid the splits. They also managed to stay in the upper part of the pack during the small hills that came before the last run-in towards Sant Feliu de Guíxols.
The final 900-metre ramp averaging 4% eventually came, and Nick Schultz tackled it with a small gap thanks to a split voluntarily made by one of his teammates. “We arrived in the last kilometre with the top goal fulfilled, that of avoiding splits for Lenny,” added Rémy. “Then, I got pushed back a little with 800 metres to go, I found myself a little behind, but I still tried to sprint as best I could”. In a tough sprint, the 27-year-old Frenchman eventually did quite well by taking sixth place behind some punchers/sprinters, while Schultz held off Pogacar a few lengths ahead. Lenny Martinez finished with the same time as his teammate, in a small peloton. “It was a hard day, where we had to avoid the traps,” summed up Thierry. “Rémy’s role was to stay with Lenny in the final to be positioned and avoid splits, which they did very well. On top of that, he could join in the sprint.” “It’s a good start and we hope the week goes well for Lenny,” said Rémy. “We will support him as much as possible to do the best result with him.” The second stage towards Vallter 2000 (11.5 km at 7.5%) on Tuesday could already be decisive. “The overall will partly be played out up there,” concluded Thierry. “It will be a fight between the champions. Lenny is quite confident and optimistic. He wants to do well and will hang on to achieve a good performance. He had an unfortunate experience last year because he suffered a small collision at the bottom, but he now knows where he set foot and he is motivated.”
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