The breakaway of the day set the pace in a Galician opening race where Camprubí, Tercero, Gilabert and Muñoz finished in the group of illustrious riders

XX Volta a Galicia
Stage 1: Combarro – Poio (157,5 km)

Very tough opening of the Volta a Galicia, with a first stage in which the breakaway triumphed and in which the ascent to A Escusa, in Monte Castrove, and the 400 metres of cobbled wall near the finish line next to the Monastery of San Juan de Poio ended up dynamiting a race that ended completely broken. New Zealander Alex White (Cocinas Lasal – Louriña) won the stage and took the first yellow leader’s jersey, while a first important group led by Marcel Camprubí (7th at the finish) and Fernando Tercero (9th), with Arnau Gilabert (13th) and Fran Muñoz (19th) very close behind, arrived 2’26” behind.

Fran Muñoz was one of the members of the great breakaway of the day, which also included Alex White. Both rode in a group of eight riders completed by the Argentinean Nicolás Antorena (Rias Baixas), Manuel Rodríguez and Daniel Jiménez (Froiz), the Russian Arseny Nikiforov (Escola Ciclisme CC Barcelona), Diego Ruiz de Arcaute (Caja Rural) and Jorge Segurado (Gomur). The eight, already in command by kilometre 10, with good representation from Galicia and teams with a lot to say in the general classification (in the end the Belgian Basso Team did not take the start due to several cases of positive COVID-19 in the previous days), would achieve an advantage of more than 8’00”.

A substantial gap that fuelled some offensive movements in the breakaway in the last 45 kilometres, attacks with the signature of Nikiforov, White and Rodriguez to consolidate a leading trio that was planted, while the main peloton worked to reduce the huge gap, in the first pass to the finish line. Shortly after White moved and consolidated his attack while new movements were taking place behind, with Carlos Rodriguez (Cortizo) and American Alex Hoehn (Drone Hopper) looking to cut the lead. A dynamic of very lively rhythms in a first fraction that ended with 25 abandonments.

The Volta a Galicia proposes for this Friday another long stage (more than 160 km long), this time in the province of Lugo, where there will be broken terrain and a couple of important climbs in the vicinity of the finish line.

[📷 Álvaro García / Federación Gallega de Ciclismo]