Red Bull’s attack can’t prevent sprint in Tour of Valencia opener as Girmay takes first NSN win

After the one-day racing on Mallorca, the Spanish spring returned to where it all began: Valencia. And this year’s start list was stacked. João Almeida was back in action, alongside the likes of Mads Pedersen, Girmay, Cian Uijtdebroeks and Pellizzari — with Remco Evenepoel also on the start line.

Stage 1 itself looked like a warm-up on paper: a largely flat day towards Torreblanca, perfect territory for the fast men — at least, if the peloton kept things under control. Early on, a break of five formed, including Dutch-born Pole Danny van der Tuuk (Euskaltel–Euskadi). Britain’s Hamish Armitt (Novo Nordisk) was later dropped from that group, leaving four riders out front.

The break took a lead of a few minutes into the middle phase of the stage, which was mostly flat. With roughly 35 kilometres to go, the day’s only real obstacle arrived: the Puerto Los Madroños. At 4.5 kilometres long and an average of 4%, it wasn’t exactly a fearsome climb — but it was the one moment where teams could try something.

Not much happened for a long time: four up the road, a peloton that was perfectly happy to let them hover around three minutes. But as the bunch approached Los Madroños, that advantage suddenly shrank quickly.

On the climb, the break finally split, and the peloton accelerated too. Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe drove the pace hard enough to rip the bunch apart, catching a few big names off guard. Almeida, for example, wasn’t in the first group, and Pedersen also had to let go.

Evenepoel, Antonio Tiberi, Uijtdebroeks and Brandon McNulty were among those in the front group, while a crash reportedly happened out of view. The peloton, however, didn’t panic — things came back together as the day headed into a flat run-in. That wasn’t the end of the attacking, though. Pellizzari had slipped clear, and the young Italian from Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe committed to a bold move in a finale that otherwise offered little to work with.

NSN Cycling Team had one priority: keep Girmay in position and make sure it still became a sprint. With their Eritrean leader present in the reduced bunch, they drilled it on the front to bring Pellizzari back. The attacker held on stubbornly, but inside the final kilometre he was finally caught — with sprint trains already fully committed. In the dash to the line, Girmay then just about held off Marit in a tight finish, sealing his first win for NSN Cycling Team.