Cipressa-lite in Catalonia as UAE and Vingegaard take over and Pidcock, Evenepoel lose out in the sprint

Barely two days after Tadej Pogačar’s victory at Milan-Sanremo, the next WorldTour race was already on the programme. On Monday, the peloton rolled out for the start of the seven-day Catalan stage race, with plenty of big names in attendance. Defending 2025 winner Primož Roglič was not at the start this time, but that did nothing to diminish the quality of the field.

With Jonas Vingegaard, Evenepoel and João Almeida all lining up, the Tour of Catalonia could count on a star-studded cast. Still, on paper the opening stage in and around Sant Feliu de Guíxols looked more like a chance for the fast men who can survive the climbs. Last year, Matthew Brennan won the same opener ahead of Kaden Groves and Tibor Del Grosso, but none of them were on the start line this time.

Soon after the flag dropped, five riders moved clear: brothers Hugo Aznar (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Unai Aznar (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Josh Burnett (Burgos BH), Tyler Stites (Modern Adventure) and Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarché). Veistroffer collected the first KOM points of the day after just 7.5 kilometres on the Alto de Romanyà, a climb of 3.1 kilometres at 4.6 percent.

The five leaders quickly built an advantage of almost four minutes, but on the approach to the Alto de Sant Hilari, 16 kilometres at 2.9 percent, their lead had already been cut to a little more than two minutes. Veistroffer again took the mountain points there. In the peloton, INEOS Grenadiers were working for Godon, while NSN Cycling Team took responsibility for Ethan Vernon

For a moment it looked as though the breakaway would be caught far from the finish, when their advantage had been reduced to around one minute with 60 kilometres still to race. But that gap then stabilised, until Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe lifted the pace with just over 30 kilometres to go. On a technical descent, team leader Evenepoel was kept expertly near the front.

That acceleration forced those up the road to dig deep again, because the peloton was now genuinely closing in. Veistroffer once more showed strong legs and managed to drag Burnett along with him. Heading into the final 20 kilometres, on roads that were almost constantly rolling up and down, Bahrain Victorious took over on the front. Lidl-Trek also moved into position, sensing that the finale would be far more selective than a straightforward sprint finish.

Somewhat surprisingly, Veistroffer was not the last escapee standing, although the Frenchman could still console himself with the first mountains jersey of the race. Burnett battled on alone for a while longer, but he too was reeled in before the final 10 kilometres. Under the impetus of UAE Emirates-XRG, the bunch thundered across the undulating roads towards Sant Feliu de Guíxols.

It felt almost like the Cipressa all over again. UAE stormed through the finale with the whole team on the front, immediately raising the question: who exactly were they riding for? Strong riders such as Giulio Ciccone were distanced on the rolling terrain, and with Vingegaard himself also appearing at the front, the pace remained relentless all the way into the final kilometre.

That is where Tom Pidcock hit the wind a little too early, which ended his hopes of bouncing back from his near-miss in Milan-Sanremo. Godon and Evenepoel judged their effort better. In the final metres, the Frenchman from INEOS proved just a fraction quicker than the Belgian from Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe.