2024-03-18 18:15:03
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published 2 hours ago, Updated now
Here during the Walloon Grand Prix, Nick Schultz begins the Tour of Catalonia with a bang. Nico Vereecken / Photo News / Panoramic
The Australian rider from Israel-Premier Tech won the first stage of the Tour of Catalonia in a sprint this Monday.
Australian Nick Schultz (Israel-Premier Tech) won the first stage of the Tour of Catalonia on Monday just ahead of favorite Tadej Pogacar in the sprint in San Feliu De Guixols on the Costa Brava. Starting alone one kilometer from the finish, the 29-year-old runner resisted the return of the Slovenian, who launched his sprint a little late to hope to win. “At 500 meters I looked around and decided to go for it, but I was surprised there was no counterattack”Schultz said on Eurosport. “I looked around 100 meters from the finish and I couldn’t believe it, even at the finish line when I won”he added.
In the leg after his third place on Milan-San Remo, Pogacar, double winner of the Tour de France, also stood out by grabbing two bonus seconds during an intermediate sprint, but will surely wait until Tuesday to place his first attacks . At 25 years old, the “cannibal” Slovenian wants to make this race a perfect launching pad towards the Giro, where he aims to become the first rider since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Tour of Italy (May 4-26) and the Tour de France (May 29) in the same year. June-July 21).
Godon, Laurance and Rochas placed
The French Dorian Godon, Axel Laurance and Rémy Rochas took fourth, fifth and sixth places at the end of this stage without much difficulty on the program, which was decided in the last hectometers. Kenny Elissonde regained the best climber jersey by being part of the breakaway of five riders recaptured around thirty kilometers from the finish. Colombian Egan Bernal and Italian Damiano Caruso were caught in a fall just before the sprint.
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