Calella (Spain), March 25th – Good start at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya for Team BAHRAIN MERIDA. Grega Bole won the bunch sprint for third place in the opening stage, sitting also in third place overall.

Stage 1 was harder than in recent years, due to some ascents that riders had to face on the 164km course - starting and finishing in Calella – as Bole explains: “It was a super hard stage, but I felt very well during all the race and also on the climbs. In the end I was still feeling really good and I managed to take the sprint for the third place. For sure if I had caught the breakaway, I could have had more chances to take a better result”. In fact De Gendt soloed to victory from the early breakaway. Valerio Agnoli tried to attack from the bunch in the final kms, but then only Schachmann could open a gap to secure the second place.

“It was a fast day signed by a breakaway from the beginning” Team BAHRAIN MERIDA Sports Director Vladimir Miholjević explains “De Gendt was part of it and he managed to drop all the other riders. Our aim was to do the sprint with Bauhaus, but he suffered due to the climbs and our second option was Grega as we already decided yesterday. He did a great sprint. We can be happy with his third place. The team worked well and we will keep fighting on the next stages”.

All pictures can be used for editorial and non commercial usages only and are copyright @Bettiniphoto Luis Angel Gomez @Team Bahrain Merida)