Albasini wins stage one of the Volta a Catalunya

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GreenEdge’s superb start to life as a UCI ProTeam continued in Spain this afternoon as its Swiss rider Michael Albasini raced to victory in stage one of the 2012 Volta a Catalunya. Albasini won by attacking from the day's breakaway, holding off Anthony Delaplace (Saur-Sojasun) and Nicolas Edet (Cofidis) to claim the first race leader's jersey.

Albasini’s opening win at the WorldTour event comes hot on the heels of teammate Simon Gerrans’ success at Milan-San Remo on Saturday and is further proof that GreenEdge, who only became a ProTeam this season, firmly belong at cycling’s top table.

"It's great to get the win," said Albasini. "The first win with a new team is always very special. I worked hard in the off season. To see this work pay off for me and the team is important."

"I realized if I could unload the other guys in the break, I had a good chance of making it to the finish," added Albasini. "At that point, I wasn't sure if I could hold off the bunch chasing behind. I had [Sports Director] Vittorio Algeri behind me giving me information and willing me onto the finish. I really appreciate the work of the team that put me in the position to win."

Up for grabs here in northeastern Spain are WorldTour points and also the prestige that comes with winning the world’s third oldest major stage race. The Volta a Catalunya was first staged in 1911, and only the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia have longer histories. Purists all across the globe will be relieved that the grand old race has survived, having been under threat of cancellation due to the woeful economic conditions currently plaguing Spain.

But the race thankfully went ahead and a quality field featuring several of the world’s top stage race riders gathered at the start of the 139km stage, which ran from the village of Calella to the northeast of Barcelona and back again. The stage was comfortably the shortest of the week and featured several gentle but long climbs to test the riders’ legs and lungs in equal measure.

Heavily favoured before the race began were Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins, who will be hoping his bid for glory isn’t compromised by his team only bringing five of his colleagues to race with him instead of the maximum of seven, Andy Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) and 2009 winner and local favourite Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). All three would treat this opening stage as something of a pipe opener for the tougher, steeper challenges to come later in the week.

After a relatively fast first hour, five riders made a breakaway from the main peloton and were allowed to stretch out unchallenged. Ben Gastauer (AG2R La Mondiale), Timothy Duggan (Liquigas-Cannondale), Nicolas Edet (Cofidis), Anthony Delaplace (Saur Sojasun) and Albasini were the riders to make the bold move, building up a lead that reached 6:05 at its peak.

With under 25km to go the chasing peloton, led for large sections by the home-based Movistar team, had reduced the gap to under three minutes but as the leaders started the final descent it became apparent that the pack had a very difficult task in bridging the deficit.

Albasini took advantage of the clear skies and impeccable condition of the roads to fly down the fast final descent, breaking up the leading pack of five and making an early bid for the winning line. With 6km to go he had built up a lead of 42 seconds on Delaplace and it was a margin that he never relinquished as he crossed the line in 3:20:04, 42 seconds clear of Delaplace and 1:14 ahead of Edet, who finished in third place having given up trying to fight with Delaplace in the closing two kilometres.

It was a dominant day for Albasini, who also finished top in two of the climbing classifications and one of the sprints.

Tomorrow’s 161km second stage starts and finishes in Girona and features the gruelling Alt Dels Angels climb as the riders near the finish.

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