Volta a Catalunya: Valverde wins stage 2 in Valls

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Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) won stage 2 of the Volta a Catalunya in Valls, west of Barcelona, using his fast finish to beat Daryl Impey (Mitchelton-Scott) and Jay McCarthy (Bora-Hansgrohe) after surviving the late Coll de Lilla climb and a series of tight turns.

McCarthy looked set to win the sprint, but Valverde came from behind along the barriers to take victory by a bike length. Egan Bernal (Team Sky) impressed in the sprint taking fourth, with Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Merida) fifth.

Stage 1 winner Alvaro Hodeg (Quick-Step Floors) was distanced on the late climb, and so Valverde also took the race lead thanks to time bonuses. He leads McCarthy by four seconds, with Impey third at six seconds.

Quintana is fourth at 11 seconds as Movistar prepare to defend the race lead during the first mountain stage of this year's Volta a Catalunya up to the Vallter 2000 ski resort. Valverde wanted to enjoy his surprise victory but is also ready to defend the leader's white and green leader's jersey.

"It was a great day, there was a lot of pressure on us because the headwind slowed the race but the team worked extremely well," he explained.

"The team kept me up front, and we picked up the intermediate bonus but the plan wasn't really to win a stage like this, and when it happens you have to go for it. This win is for my son Ivan, who broke his collarbone playing football.

"Tomorrow is going to be a very tough day. Now I've got the lead and so we're going to try and keep it."

A long ride into a headwind

The 175km stage rolled out of Mataro', east of Barcelona under sunny skies, with rider facing a day in the rolling hills behind the Catalunya capital. Valverde won in Valls in 2015. Wout Poels (Team Sky) was the last rider to win a stage in Valls in 2016, with the town also the home to the late Xavier Tondo, who died tragically in a freak accident when a garage door fell on him in 2011.

Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) was the only non-starter as he continued to struggle with bronchitis and was withdrawn by his team. With the first big mountain stage to Vallter 2000 coming on Wednesday and a constant headwind, the riders were cautious about spending energy and were happy when Igor Merino (Burgos), Antonio Molina (Caja Rural) and Mikel Bizkarra (Euskadi) got away virtually from the drop of the flag to form the early break of the day.

Their lead was up to 3:00 after just 15km with Quick-Step Floors leading the chase to defend stage 1 winner Alvaro Hodeg's lead. The 22-year-old British neo-pro, James Knox, was again given the job of setting tempo on the front of the peloton, and he helped keep the break under control.

The stage rolled along at an average of just 36km/h due to the headwind, with the only disruption coming with 70km to go when a level crossing forced the race commissaires to stop the break and the peloton. The trio was allowed to open their 2:10 again, despite the peloton trying to set off sooner than the commissaires wished. They were forced to stand in the middle of the road to stop them.

Robert Gesink (LottoNL-Jumbo) was 60km to go, apparently due to a knee problem, with Andrey Grivko (Astana) the only rider keen to liven up the race by jumping across to the break, as the gap came down and the race passed through snow-covered but still sunny fields. However he then decided to attack the break, and with the Movistar team leading the chase, the break was soon caught back on the long gradual descent.

The 22-year-old French man Cyril Barthe (Euskadi) took off alone with 41km to go but was left to hang out front. He took the final intermediate sprint in Sarral. Interestingly, Valverde and Nairo Quintana took second and third to pick up the two and one second time bonuses, which could prove vital later in the week.

The late Coll de Lilla climb was steep but fast on wide roads and was raced hard, with Mitchelton-Scott pushing the pace thanks to Rob Power and Carlos Verona. That proved too much for Hodeg, who was spat out of the peloton with 12km to go. Other sprinters soon followed him as the pace finally turned high.

Pierre Latour (AG2R-La Mondiale) tried an attack over the summit, but the pace proved too high on the descent, ensuring a high-speed, hectic sprint finish. Bahrain-Merida seemed in charge and tried to lead out Enrico Gasparotto, but Valverde was lurking in the wheels and came through along the barriers to win.

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