Kaden Groves goes third in high-speed sprint in Figueres but loses two more seconds to Brennan in GC
Ethan Vernon of Israel-Premier Tech celebrates at finish line as stage 2 winner ahead of race leader Matthew Brennan of Visma-Lease a Bike(Image credit: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images)
Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) won stage 2 of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya following a hard-fought bunch sprint finish in Figueres.
Groves finished third, recording his second podium finish in as many days. Brennan retains the leader’s jersey ahead of stage 3, the first of the race’s major mountain days, which will likely see a reordering in the overall classification.
“In the end it wasn’t an easy day,” Vernon said. “Trek and some other teams made it hard on the climb, so I suffered a bit then. I came back thanks to the good job of Itamar [Einhorn] my teammate who brought me back in good condition, and then Nick [Schultz] and Corbin [Strong] and George Bennett were phenomenal in the last few k. We came with momentum about 2k to go with a full train and we were set up perfectly for the end.
"It was really chaotic, I think we must have been going 80 kilometres per hour plus at the end there with the tail wind, it was super fast, but in the end, it suited me.
“We still have other objectives with [Matthew] Riccitello and George Bennett the next few days, and then hopefully another chance to sprint on Friday, and Corbyn’s got another chance again on Sunday. So yeah, I think we've got a lot of stages and hopefully a fairly good GC result for a couple of guys.
“I'm starting to like this race. It's bringing some good memories. So hopefully come again next year!”
Stage winner Ethan Vernon gets a hug from a Israel-Premier Tech teammate after recording his first victory of the season (Image credit: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images)
How it unfolded
The 104th edition of the Volta a Catalunya continued Tuesday with a stage start in Banyoles, and headed 177.3 kilometres north to Figueres, via two categorised climbs. Though there were a few showers early on, the conditions were significantly better than stage 1, with the peloton enjoying sunshine and blue skies as the day progressed.
A three-man breakaway pulled clear of the bunch immediately after flag drop, consisting of three Spanish continental team riders – Calum Johnston (Team Caja Rural-RGA), Diego Uriarte (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Danny van der Tuuk (Euskatel-Euskadi), who was defending the mountain classification jersey.
They enjoyed a gap of around four minutes early in the stage, but this was reduced to under half a minute on the day’s main climbing challenge, the category 1 Coll de Sant Pere de Rodes, which greeted the bunch 87km from the stage finish.
The peloton were led up the climb by Sepp Kuss, riding on behalf of Brennan, which suggested the race leader was feeling good once again, following his immense victory on stage 1. Alpecin-Deceuninck also contributed to the work at the head of the bunch on the climb, affirming their belief in Kaden Groves for the finish despite the more testing nature of the ascent.
Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike) leads the peloton (Image credit: Szymon Gruchalski/Getty Images)
With just two riders remaining in the break, Mario Aparicio (Burgos Burpellet BH) bridged across and sprinted up the road to claim the full 10 points in the KOM competition, before all three riders were caught on the descent that followed.
At the intermediate sprint point with 68km remaining, Jan Tratnik launched a determined lead-out for Primož Roglič, but communication appeared to breakdown and the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe effort was curtailed just prior to the line, allowing Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) to cruise through and benefit from three additional seconds to add to his total.
The pace picked up, splitting the peloton heading into the first passage of the finish line on a finish circuit, with tension high at the front of the bunch, and a large group found themselves adrift of the main peloton, forming an echelon in strong crosswinds. Everything came back together some while later though, and there was a moment’s calm as the parcours steepened.
A trio of riders made an attempt to get away from the bunch but their efforts were thwarted. In the end, it was a clean run-in toward Figueres for the peloton, who set the stage for a bunch sprint finale.
Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale and Alpecin-Deceuninck were prominent heading into the final kilometre, but Groves adopted the inside line heading around the final bend and he looked to have the edge, though Laurance kept pace alongside him.
Vernon timed his effort to perfection, however, moving past the pair to take his first victory of 2025. Brennan took advantage of Vernon’s speed, following his wheel and launching late, but though he finished fast, it wasn’t quite enough for a second consecutive victory at the race. He retains the race lead heading into stage 3, with Groves in second and Tibor Del Grosso (Alpecin-Deceuninck) third.
Visma-Lease a Bike leading the peloton on stage 2 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Katy is a freelance writer and journalist. She has published interviews, features, and previews in Cycling News, Rouleur, Cyclist Magazine and the British Continental. She also writes opinion pieces on her own website writebikerepeat.com and is a frequent contributor to the Quicklink podcast.
She is obsessed with the narrative element of bike racing, from the bigger picture to the individual stories. She is a cyclocross nut who is 5% Belgian and wonders if this entitles her to citizenship. Her favourite races are Ronde van Vlaanderen and La Vuelta.
In her spare time Katy is a published short fiction and non-fiction author.
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