Before reaching a terrain more suited to them tomorrow, the riders of Groupama-FDJ just tried to stay safe on stage 2 of the Volta a Catalunya on Tuesday. After 180 kilometres, the anticipated bunch sprint took place, and Ethan Vernon claimed victory. Let’s now head to La Molina!
Ahead of Figueres, the birthplace of Salvador Dalí, any outcome other than a bunch sprint seemed surreal on Tuesday, for the second day of racing on Catalan soil. “It was a day that looked pretty calm on paper, but it was still quite tense in real life,” explained Stéphane Goubert. “The wind in particular stressed and made the peloton nervous all day long. Some sprinters also tried to take advantage of the two climbs mid-race to tire out some of their rivals. On top of that, the descents were still quite winding. The day’s good news was that the sun came back, even though the roads were wet at times because we were right behind a downpour”. As for the race, only three riders formed the day’s breakaway from the start, and they were already caught after the day’s only two climbs, about seventy kilometres from the finish.
“They’ll be thrown in at the deep end”, Stéphane Goubert
Then, the light crosswind slightly heated things up but didn’t cause any real damage. “The scenario was pretty straightforward, and we didn’t have any goals for the sprint”, Stéphane added. “Enzo briefly tried, but the wind was too strong, and only one other team had the will to go for it on the finishing circuit. We would have needed five or six others to make a proper move, but we know that at the WorldTour level, many teams have a sprinter, and everyone is controlling to make sure it finishes in a sprint.” So that’s exactly what happened in Figueres, where Ethan Vernon triumphed after a slight false flat. All of the Groupama-FDJ riders finished in the peloton. “The weather did good to the bodies before two days in the mountains that promise to be very tough,” concluded Stéphane. “We have a group of young guys, with little WorldTour experience, but it will be a good way to discover this very high level. It will also allow us to see their form and the work we still need to do. They’ll be thrown in at the deep end, but the Vuelta a Catalunya is the ideal race for climbers.”
On Wednesday, there will be nearly 4,800 meters of elevation gain on the 210 kilometres leading to the summit of La Molina.
