Michael Woods leaped into sixth place on GC by coming eighth in Tuesday’s summit finish at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. Giulio Ciccone beat Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel at the top. Roglič, who captured the leader’s jersey after topping world champion Remco Evenepoel in an uphill sprint at Sant Feliu de Guíxols on Monday’s opening stage, kept the lead.
The Course
Stage 2 brought the hurt, the first of three summit finishes in the 102nd edition of the Spanish WorldTour stage race. The riders would warm up on the Cat. 1 Colle de Coubet climb before assailing the HC-rated Vallter ascent, 15.1 km of 6.7 percent, its steepest ramps in the middle.
After yesterday’s undulating sprint stage, it’s now time for the first mountain top finish of the race. The ascent to Vallter 2000 is 11.4 km long and has an avg. gradient of 7.6 %
⏰ 12:45
🛣️ 165.4 km
📈 3000+ m of climbing
🏁 17:00
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🇪🇸 #VoltaCatalunya102 pic.twitter.com/CiM1j5d8mh— Israel – Premier Tech (@IsraelPremTech) March 21, 2023
On Monday Woods was part of the 25-strong group that finished together in Sant Feliu de Guíxols and he sat at lucky thirteenth going into Tuesday’s stage.
An octet of fugitives dashed away soon after the start in Mataró, and since it contained two fellows who were +0:20 of Roglič, it bore watching. But by the time the breakaway reached Colle de Coubet, its gap had grown and its chances of survival had increased. Escapee Simon Petilli crested Coubet first and took over the KOM lead from Monday’s breakaway Jetse Bol. The race hurtled toward Vallter.
The break’s gap shrank rapidly and it lost numbers as Vallter began to bite. With only Simon Carr left out front, Bahrain-Victorious took over the pointy end of the reduced peloton with intent. Egan Bernal was dropped, as was Richard Carapaz. Carr came back with 6.6 km to climb.
Carr’s EF Education-Easypost teammate Esteban Chaves attacked and Sepp Kuss chased him.
The Colombian national champion yanked out a 30 second gap and Kuss returned to teammate Roglič’s side. Mikel Landa attacked with 2 km remaining, drawing Evenepoel, Roglič and Ciccone, but the group reformed. Woods was still accounted for. Chaves’ lead shrank quickly.
Evenepoel made a dig, Ciccone, Landa and Roglič coming along. It was edge-of-your-seat stuff inside the red kite. Chaves was…
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