Volta a Catalunya stage 1 LIVE: Breakaway advantage shrinking

The gap continues to drop with one minute and six seconds up to the break.

2026-03-23T14:29:10.326Z

Ineos Grenadiers, NSN and Bahrain Victorious have brought the gap down to one minute and nine seconds!

2026-03-23T14:27:56.838Z

It appears there may not be another intermediate sprint.

1. Veistroffer (LOI) 3pts 3″
2. Burnett (BBH) 2pts 2″
3. Aznar (EKP) 1pt 1″

2026-03-23T14:24:04.657Z

They’re finished the main part of the descent but still have some steady downhill for a while yet.

2026-03-23T14:22:34.620Z

Half way through the stage with the average speed at 40.3kph. This is a rapid stage considering the parcours ridden already today.

2026-03-23T14:14:30.127Z

The gap drops below two minutes with the peloton now one minutes and 40 seconds behind the break with just over 90km to go.

2026-03-23T14:13:45.166Z

Veistroffer just needs the finish the stage and he will wear the KOM jersey on the podium and in tomorrow’s stage.

1. Veistroffer (LOI) 10pts
2. Stites (MAP) 8pts
3. Aznar (EUS) 6pts
4. Aznar (EKP) 4pts
5. Burnett (BBH) 2pts
6. Svestad-Bårdseng (IGD) 1pt

2026-03-23T14:07:03.836Z

1km from the summit of the Alt de Sant Hilari Sacalm.

5km from the top of the Alt de Sant Hilari Sacalm with 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 points available in the KOM competition.

2026-03-23T13:56:14.475Z

The peloton brings the gap down again to about two minutes.

2026-03-23T13:49:09.096Z

The gap finally has gone up slightly again for the first time in quite some time. The break now have two minutes and 20 seconds on the peloton.

2026-03-23T13:48:19.674Z

Pidcock thinks it would’ve been a “bit of a fluke” had he won Milan-San Remo on the weekend, but the Yorkshireman now turns his focus to GC riding against more of the world’s best…

The gap continues to come down, two minutes and 50 seconds now splits the peloton and the five-man breakaway.

2026-03-23T13:03:12.966Z

Just under an hour of racing and the average speed is at 40.5kph.

1. Veistroffer (LOI) 3pts 3″
2. Aznar (EKP) 2pts 2″
3. Stites (MAP) 1pt 1″

2026-03-23T12:48:29.188Z

The gap has now come down to three minutes.

2026-03-23T12:47:41.298Z

There are three, two and one points and bonus seconds available at each of the three intermediate sprints today.

2026-03-23T12:45:48.121Z

7km from the intermediate sprint in Salt.

2026-03-23T12:44:31.929Z

The gap continues to drop with another five seconds shaved off the time.

2026-03-23T12:43:10.630Z

The peloton are now taking control of things and have already brought the gap back down to three minutes and 25 seconds.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-03-23T12:40:44.585Z

The peloton hasn’t really settled into a controlling pattern just yet with various teams working out who is the favourite for today and the week as a whole…

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-03-23T12:37:14.187Z

The gap has inched out to four minutes.

2026-03-23T12:36:54.639Z

Burnett has already had one very good week long stage race in Spain this year where he took the mountains jersey at the Vuelta a Andalucia. He also finished second in the New Zealand national road race.

2026-03-23T12:31:33.837Z

About 18km to the first of three intermediate sprints. The first one comes in the town of Salt.

2026-03-23T12:29:57.615Z

Veistroffer finally backs into the chasing group and we now have five riders together at three minutes and 50 seconds ahead of the peloton.

2026-03-23T12:29:12.853Z

Veistroffer has had quite the start to the year with a stage win and a spell in the leader’s jersey at the Tour of Oman as well as a heroic week at the Tour Down Under where he showed off his breakaway skills.

2026-03-23T12:28:06.101Z

The gap between Veistroffer and the peloton is now almost four minutes. The Frenchman has over 20 seconds on the chasers, still.

1. Veistroffer (LOI) 3pts
2. Burnett (BBH) 2pts
3. Stites (MAP) 1pt

2026-03-23T12:22:09.253Z

Veistroffer crossed the top of the Alt de Romanyà first and takes the three points.

2026-03-23T12:18:16.013Z

The peloton are now over two minutes down on the leader.

2026-03-23T12:17:53.690Z

Veistroffer has now dropped everyone and is pushing on solo with a group of four chasing at about 20″ as they are about to crest the first climb of the day already, the Alt de Romanyà. with Unai back in a group with his brother, Hugo…

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-03-23T12:16:08.862Z

The break splits with U. Aznar and Vestroffer being chased by Stites as well as Josh Burnett (Burgos-Burpellet-BH) and Hugo Aznar (Kern Pharma) who are just 15″ behind the leaders.

2026-03-23T12:13:31.787Z

Tyler Stites (Modern Adventure) has joined the lead group.

2026-03-23T12:13:07.004Z

The start was actually delayed to several riders having various issues. But now the riders are racing with several attacks trying to follow Veistroffer and Aznar.

Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto-Intermarche)
Unai Aznar (Euskaltel-Euskadi)

(Image credit: Getty Images)

161 riders start the Volta a Catalunya 2026 stage 1 in Sant Feliu de Guíxols.The riders immediately plunge down a -5% descent before heading onto the climb.

2026-03-23T11:58:03.027Z

The neutral zone is 5.5km long today.

2026-03-23T11:57:07.437Z

The neutral start has happened and the riders have about 10 minutes to get settled in before racing begins and they start climbing almost immediately with the category three Alt de Romanyà, 4.4km long with an average gradient of 3.8% and a max kicker of 8%. That starts a mere 3km into the race!

2026-03-23T11:43:38.714Z

The stage, as seen from last year, can suit the fast men. However, riders such as Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) have also succeeded on this stage, it is very open. It could be someone like Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) or a GC man with a good kick like Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe). Only time will tell!

2026-03-23T11:40:55.830Z

The opening stage has the same finishing kilometres as the opening day last year that was won by emerging superstar, Matthew Brennan (Visma-Lease a Bike). This year, the organisers have plonked a whacking great category one climb in the middle of the day, the Al de Sant Hilari Sacalm, which is 14.6km long with an average gradient of 3% but max kicks of 8%.

(Image credit: Volta a Catalunya)

2026-03-23T11:34:50.876Z

Sign on, team presentations and interviews are well underway in Sant Feliu de Guíxols…

(Image credit: Getty Images)

2026-03-23T11:31:36.792Z

The neutral start comes at 12:50 local time with the flag set to be waved to start racing 10 minutes after that.

2026-03-23T11:29:18.623Z

Pidcock was oh so close to taking Milan-San Remo on Saturday and missed out by just half a wheel thanks to being caught on the wrong side of Tadej Pogačar’s wheel as the sprint started, but can he make amends in the mountains of Catalonia?