As it happened: Teenage British star shocks the peloton in awful weather conditions

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The 19-year-old Brit, Matthew Brennan, pulls off quite an amazing stage win.

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Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2025 - Everything you need to know

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Hello and welcome to CyclingNews' live report on the opening stage of the 104th Volta a Catalunya.

The first stage of the 2025 race covers a distance of 178.3km with the start and finish in the town of Sant Feliu de Guíxols. 

One of the big favourites for the race, Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease a Bike), announced a few days ago that he would not race here this week as he is still recovering from his crash at Paris-Nice. 

Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep) comes into the race as one of the favourites as he continues to be the main GC focus in Remco Evenepoel's absence. 

The riders have signed on and are now moments away from starting the neutralised section of the stage. 

One non-starter:

Neutral start

The conditions are dry at the start today with a temperature of 15°C with a light breeze. But, the skies are grey and look a bit threatening. 

The rain has started to fall and is set to get worse as the race goes on today. 

Multiple riders have suffered early mechanicals which have delayed the start of the stage. 

178.3km to go

Attack!

There is an early gap of 15" between Van der Tuuk and Castellon and the chasing peloton. 

Counter attack

The two groups out front have now come together making a breakaway of four riders with a gap of 27" on the peloton as the rain continues to get heavier. 

170km to go

The gap between the break and the bunch is over two and a half minutes with it heading up towards three minutes. 

Just under 4km to the first intermediate sprint of the day where there are three, two and one point(s) available as well as three, two and one bonus second(s). 

The gap to the breakaway of Faura, Castellon, Van der Tuuk and Alustiza is now over three minutes back to the pack. 

Intermediate sprint (Palafrugell)

The breakaway are now just over 5km away from the first categorised climb of the day, the Coll de Begur. This climb is 4.4km long with an average gradient of 4% and a max of 8%. Just three, two and one points are available here. 

The race has just gone over an uncategorised climb that had gradients of over 13%. They plunge down the other side and onto the start of the Coll de Begur climb. 

The gap back to the peloton from the break has shrunk to just over three minutes now. 

KoM (Coll de Begur)

The gap over the top of the Coll de Begur is now just 2'50" between the peloton and the break. The gap has reduced significantly. 

The peloton is being led by Alpecin-Deceuninck and Picnic-PostNL as they appear to be setting up their sprinters, Kaden Groves and Pavel Bittner. 

140km to go

After an hour of racing the average speed is at 37.2kph. 

Intermediate sprint (La Bisbal d'Empordà)

The gap is now down to 2'40" with just  over 10km to the second categorised climb of the day, the 7.7km long Alt de Santa Pellaia with an average gradient of 3% and a max of 10%. 

It is now raining heavily. 

120km to go

KoM (Alt de Santa Pellaia)

The race is now on the descent of the Alt de Santa Pellaia. This is very tight and technical so the riders will be thankful that the rain has not reached this side of the climb, meaning the roads are dry. 

After a first and second place on the only two categorised climbs today, Polish rider Danny van der Tuuk (Euskaltel-Euskadi) will wear the white and red mountains jersey tomorrow, if he finishes the stage. 

The gap has now started to edge back out again with the break holding 2'35" on the chasing pack. 

Soon, the race will head onto the finishing circuit where they will take on almost two laps. 

Front puncture

Almost two hours of racing done and the average speed is at 38.8kph. 

100km to go

Just over two minutes between the breakaway and the peloton. The pace is on the rise but the rain has returned. 

80km to go

The break now are only just over a minute ahead of the peloton led by Ineos Grenadiers, Picnic-PostNL, Movistar and Alpecin-Deceuninck. 

Ineos Grenadiers win the battle for the lead of the peloton as they head into these tight and twisty fast roads that take the riders to the finishing town before heading back out on the lap for one more lap. 

The peloton is being led by 20-year-old Canadian rider, Michael Leonard of Ineos Grenadiers. He has stretched the peloton out in one long line on this technical course. 

UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Alpecin-Deceuninck and Picnic-PostNL are now challenging Ineos Grenadiers on the front of the bunch. 

The gap to the break dips under a minute for the first time since it was formed. 

Some riders are already dropped from the peloton including Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck) who was leading the peloton for the majority of the stage. 

70km to go

After a brief spell of dry roads, the race has headed back into the rain. 

Attack in break

The roads are tight and twisty and are catching riders out. The British champion, Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep), is out of the back but looks to be slowly working his way back in. 

Caught by the peloton

Crash

Breakaway caught

Alustiza and Castellon pushed on a little bit in the tight corners but have now been properly caught as they cross the finish line for the first of two times. 

Attack!

Those two attackers are caught before any ID was taken on them. Very difficult to see in the pouring rain and big rain jackets. 

The rain is absolutely pouring now. This is absolutely miserable for the riders. It looks like the tall figure of Nils Eeckoff (Picnic-PostNL) looks to be struggling but he may have just been back at the car as the likes of Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Ben O'Connor (Jayco-AlUla) have been doing the same looking for fresh wet weather kit. 

50km to go

Just 1km to the final intermediate sprint today. There will be 3, 2 and 1 point(s) available as well as 3, 2 and 1 bonus second(s) available as well. 

The riders went through the intermediate sprint and it was a strange one. The riders didn't seem to know where it was and it looked like a Movistar rider rolled over the line first. Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was up there and may have got second place. 

40km to go

Abandon

Jan Castellon (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) has won the public poll for most combative rider of the day. 

Alpecin-Deceuninck have dramatically upped the tempo on the front of the peloton for Kaden Groves and the bunch has stretched out in one long line. 

Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers) being brought back to the peloton on his spare bike. This explains as to why Ineos Grenadiers had disappeard from the front of the bunch. This may change soon now the former U23 world champion is back in. 

30km to go

Hugh Carthy (EF Education-EasyPost) and Hugo Toumire (Cofidis) are out of the back and appear to be struggling with the pace.

As expected, now Axel Laurance is back in the bunch, Ineos Grenadiers return at the front of the peloton. 

Marc Soler comes to the front to work for his UAE Team Emirates-XRG teammate, Juan Ayuso. 

Intermediate sprint (Llagostera)

Puncture

20km to go

The peloton split slightly just as Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) was trying to come back in so he is just off the back of the main bunch for the moment. 

Some bigger splits now appearing in the peloton as UAE Team Emirates-XRG are going flat out on the front of the bunch. 

The rain is still falling hard. 

Puncture

10km to go

5km to go

Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) is said to be out of the back at the moment as well as Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and possibly Axel Laurance (Ineos Grenadiers). 

Suddenly, Alpecin-Deceuninck move to the front with Kaden Groves perfectly placed. Matt Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) is locked on his wheel with Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) following him. 2km to go. 

One of the Alpecin-Deceuninck riders gapped his team and now his teammates have let him go with Brennan trying to bridge. 

Brennan and Groves have gapped the bunch as well but it is still this Alpecin-Deceuninck solo, possibly Tibor del Grosso. 

Flamme Rouge!

500m to go and Tibor del Grosso has this. 

Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike) breaks the heart of Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) on the line with a quite sensational sprint.

The 19-year-old British superstar has just pulled off quite an astonishing win there. Just a few days after winning GP Denain where he beat yet another Alpecin-Deceuninck rider, Gianni Vermeersch. 

Top 10

GC after stage one

After that, you may want to see all the reaction and analysis of the stage by reading out post-race report. To have a read, click the link below!

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