French Ineos rider Dorian Godon on Monday won the first stage of the Tour of Catalonia as Belgian Remco Evenepoel came second in a photo finish and Tom Pidcock was third.
The 105th edition of the seven-day tour is packed with stars, with Jonas Vingegaard favorite to win after his masterclass at Paris-Nice.
The opener was a hilly 172km stage that left the coastal resort of Sant Feliu de Guixols, took in Girona, a category 1 climb, and then sped back to the Costa Brava coast.
Photo: AFP
Godon said he had been planning a win here for years.
“I did my studies in Girona and live there now, and often said I’d win a stage like this one day,” the newly-signed Ineos rider said.
Godon appeared to have made his run too early.
“It would have been better to wait a bit, the last 50m seemed to last an hour,” he said after holding off a counterattack from Evenepoel.
Another hero of the day Kiwi second-tier rider Josh Burnett was the last of the breakaway to be caught, 10km from the finish as the cast of stars jostled to keep up with a high closing pace, but Burnett did enough to win the combativity award.
Other contenders such as Joao Almeida of UAE, Evenepoel’s Red Bull teammate Florian Lipowitz, Oscar Onley of Ineos, and Lidl trio Giulio Ciccone, Derek Gee and Mattias Skjelmose all came home safely a few seconds off the pace.
Stages four, five and six are to be contested in the Pyrenees, while the finale takes in seven circuits of Montjuic in Barcelona where the Tour de France starts in July.
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