The 103rd Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and stage 1 opened up the week without an ounce of flat road boasting 3 categorised climbs, twisty roads through the beautiful Catalan coastal region, starting Sant Feliu de Guíxols, and finishing in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. A breakaway of 5 had established itself but with as we passed the finish line to enter the remaining 50km loop, the break way slowly reeled.
Coach Phil West, then describes how the final 50km played out for the team, “Coming into the final lap, we knew it was going to be a selective race so we tried to make sure we protected Frank van den Broek and Martijn Tusveld as much as possible with their positioning coming into the coast road, and then the final big climb of the day, from there it was going to be on legs. Frank was smart with his positioning coming into the final and was able to do a good sprint with Martijn just behind. We can be happy with a 14th place finish. A really good start for him there. We’ll keep working with the team on the next days and see what happens.”