Volta a Catalunya: Andreas Kron wins stage 1

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Andreas Kron (Lotto Soudal) won stage 1 of the Volta a Catalunya after he proved the quickest of a four-man break at the finish in Calella. The neo-professional delivered a well-judged sprint to beat Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana Premier Tech) to the line and claim the first leader’s jersey of the race.

The decisive move forged clear with 23km remaining, when Sanchez took advantage of a lack of cohesion in the reduced peloton to jump clear, and he was promptly joined by Kron, Rémy Rochas (Cofidis) and Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe). The quartet combined well to take advantage of the lack of organisation behind to build a maximum lead that touched 45 seconds.

Although Ineos shaved that advantage back towards the half-minute mark in the closing kilometres, the sustained chase effort came too late to deny the escapees. Kämna, mindful of his limitations in the sprint, attempted to jump away with 2km remaining, but he was unable to shed himself of his companions and he found himself compelled to lead them out.

Sanchez was tucked on Kämna’s wheel in the finishing straight, where he repeatedly glanced over his shoulder to check on the location of the chasers. The Spaniard, normally such a canny operator in such situations, perhaps should have been keeping a closer eye on Kron.

The Dane unleashed a crisp effort with 150m to go to claim the stage, while Sanchez had to settle for second. Rochas took third place ahead of Kämna, while Dion Smith (BikeExchange) and Matej Mohoric (Bahrain-Victorious) led the peloton home at 16 seconds.

All of the GC contenders finished safely in that group, though four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation) came in 8:40 down after being dropped on the day’s category 1 climb, the Port de Santa Fe del Montseny.

Kron is in his first season at WorldTour level, and the 22-year-old had already caught the eye with his aggression GP La Marseillaise and Étoile de Bessèges. He showed considerable nous here to spot the opportunities that began to arise once Movistar stopped riding on the front in the finale.

Movistar had whittled the peloton down to 80 or so riders on the category 1 Port de Santa Fe del Montseny, and they had continued to lead over the other side, ostensibly to tee up Alejandro Valverde for stage victory. They ceased working after the road flattened out, however, and no team stepped up to take their place.

Geraint Thomas (Ineos) and Fausto Masnada (Deceuninck-QuickStep) were part of a sizeable group that briefly opened a gap on the undulating terrain in the last 30km, but the key move came just after they were brought back. Sanchez and Kämna were the established names in the break, but it was the neophyte Kron who carried the day.

“It’s fantastic. It’s my first WorldTour stage race and my first WorldTour stage win,” said Kron. “It’s crazy, it’s fantastic, I cannot say anything, it’s just fantastic. We rode fantastic as a team today. We had Sylvain [Moniquet] in the break and it’s also the mountains jersey for him and then I came in the break and won the sprint. it’s incredible, fantastic.”

Kron holds a lead of 4 seconds over Sanchez and 6 over Rochas in the overall standings, with the GC contenders at 26 seconds ahead of Tuesday’s 18.5km individual time trial in Banyoles.

How it unfolded

The opening phase of the stage was animated by Gotzon Martín (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Rein Taaramae (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert), Natnael Berhane (Cofidis) and Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto Soudal), who escaped in the opening kilometres and built a maximum lead of 4:20 over the peloton.

Their advantage began to drop shortly after the road started to climb, however, and their advantage was down to 2:45 by the time Taaramae led the quartet over the summit of the Port de Les Guilleries.

Bora-Hansgrohe, who have Peter Sagan in action in Catalonia this week, were to the fore ahead of the day’s main obstacle, Port de Santa Fe del Montseny, before Movistar took over on the climb itself. The Spanish squad’s forcing shed the peloton of some of the fast men, Sagan included, while Froome was visibly in difficulty at the back of the race for much of the ascent and was eventually distanced shortly beyond the summit.

By that point, Moniquet was the only rider left in front, with the Belgian summoning up just enough strength to fend off the peloton and claim the king of the mountains points at the top. Movistar led the reduced front group down the other side before relenting their effort in the finale.

It made for a disjointed peloton, with the front end of the race fragmenting and reforming on several occasions inside the final 30km. Thomas, Masnada and Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) were part of a group that opened a small gap with 26km to go, while Marc Soler (Movistar) and George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) were prominent in the pursuit, but the move never established a foothold.

Sanchez sensed his opportunity with 23km to go, jumping clear with Kron, Kämna and Rochas for company. Stevie Williams (Bahrain Victorious) later made a spirited attempt to forge across, but the Welshman fell just short of catching them. Behind, nobody was immediately willing to commit to the chase, and the leading quartet had a lead of 40 seconds by the time they crested the top of the Port de Collsacreu with 13km to go.

On the run-in, Trek-Segafredo and, particularly, Ineos were prominent in ensuring the escapees’ advantage was at least kept to a minimum, but with 5km to go, it was already clear that the winner would come from the leading quartet, who took full advantage of the tailwind in the finale. After Kämna’s move was snuffed out with 2km to go, Sanchez looked the favourite, but Kron showed strength and poise to take the honours.