Volta a Catalunya: Valverde wins in Olot

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Movistar went one-two in the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya stage 2 bunch sprint with Alejandro Valverde taking the victory ahead of his teammate Jose Rojas on the streets of Olot. IAM Cycling’s Martin Elmiger secured third place on the day. 

“More than doing it to take sprinters out of the fight, the team pushed into the final kilometers to keep ourselves well placed against the rain and any danger that could show up," Valverde said. "Herrada did a phenomenal job leading the group in that section, and the whole team was fantastic from start to finish. All of my team-mates were always focused on avoiding any problems, bringing us weather clothes, food... I want to thank all of them as well as the whole team for their huge work."

Maciej Paterski (CCC Sprandi Polkowice) kept his lead in the overall classification ahead of Pierre Rolland (Europcar) and Bart De Clercq (Lotto Soudal). The three riders made up the previous day's stage 1 breakaway that succeeded to the finish line. 

Stage 2 brought the peloton a 191.8 kilometres from Mataro to Olot, held under rainy and overcast conditions. A breakaway of four, that included Sam Bewley (Orica-GreenEdge), Luis Mas Bonet (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Tom Stamsnijder (Giant-Alpecin) and Tsgabu Grmay (Lampre-Merida), held a 2:55-minute lead with 55km to go.

Grmay and Mas Bonet, who was 2:40 down in the overall, shed their breakaway companions on the last climb of the race with roughly 20km to go in the town of Tortella. However, the peloton had brought all the riders back into the fold before the sprint for the finish line.

"The plan was to let few escapees break clear at the beginning of the stage, let them gain few minutes of advantage and then control the situation," said CCC Sprandi's director Poitr Wadecki. "This is exactly what happened. We stayed in the front setting solid and stable pace.

"In the end we were hoping that other teams, who have fast riders on their rosters and want to win the stage, will also contribute to the chase. And they did, so the plan was fulfilled. The only thing that didn’t work out, was the fact that Sylwester Szmyd lost contact with the bunch on the descent and arrived at the finish almost four minutes behind the winner. He was aiming for a good general classification, but now we have change our plans regarding that.

"Many things can happen on tomorrow’s stage but Maciej Paterski is in good shape and we will continue to protect the leader’s jersey."

The Volta Ciclista a Catalunya will continue with stage 3 in Girona on Wednesday.

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