Álvaro Hodeg (Quick Step Floors), first leader of the “Volta”
March 19 th 2018 - 10:01
The Colombian Álvaro Hodeg (Quick Step Floors) has become the first leader of the “Volta” a Catalunya after winning the sprint at the end of the opening-day, after a 152.3 kilometer-long stage. The young sprinter, only 21 years of age, managed to be quicker than his opponents, the Irish rider Sam Bennett and the Australian Jay McCarthy, the two sprinters from the Bora-Hansgrohe team, who finished second and third respectively.
This 98th edition of the “Volta” started, as has become customary over the past few years, with a stage starting and finishing in Calella. In this case, the Port de Collsacreu (3rd category climb), 18.3 kilometres from the finish line, was the only mountainous difficulty on today’s stage, which did not prevent a mass finish from being the decider of today’s stage winner and holder of the green and white leader’s jersey.
A breakaway group of six riders marked the day, made up of Tom Bohli(BMC), Markel Irizar (Trek-Segafredo), Andriy Grivko (Astana), Jesús Ezquerra (Burgos-BH), Antonio Molina (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Daniel Turek (Israel Cycling Academy), who resisted the attack of the peloton until the base of today’s only climb. The work of the sprinters’ teams, especially Bora-Hansgrohe and Cofidis, kept them in check throughout the day’s stage with a maximum difference of 3 minutes.
Ezquerra was the only rider who tried to keep the breakaway alive with an attack, but he could not prevent the group from reaching Collsacreu united. There, the Colombian Wilmar Paredes (Manzana-Postobón) attacked and reached the top of the climb in the lead, but the vertiginous speed in the descent favoured a sprint in which Hodeg, who claimed his first professional win just three days ago in the Handzame Classic in Belgium, took a clear win. “The team worked really hard for me, they gave me an opportunity. They gave everything for me and I’m really happy to have won the stage. Bob (Jungels), Max (Schachmann) and Jhonatan (Narváez) have done an incredible job, and they’ve served it to me on a plate”, the Colombian said, who doesn’t rule out trying to repeat the win in the second stage which finishes in Valls. “For the time being, I’ll enjoy today’s victory, which means a lot to me. Tomorrow we’ll have to redefine the strategy”.
Hodeg also recognised the difficulties he faced in the decisive part of the stage. “For the majority of sprinters, climbs are quite difficult. I suffered a little on the last climb, but my team waited for me and in the last 4 kilometres we managed to position ourselves and do what we do best, which is battling for victory,” concluded Hodeg.