Italian cyclist Alessandro Tonelli (VBF) exhibited with his teammate, Manuele Tarozzi (VBF) became the first leader of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (VCV), completing a distance of more than 130 kilometers in which both he and his compatriot got rid of their rivals and completed the race, crowning the Desert alone de les Pames. In the sprint in Castellón.

With an unofficial time of 4 hours 4 minutes and 34 seconds, Tonelli beat his teammate and thus achieved a success for the Italian continental team VF Group Bardiani-CSF Faizanè, with the two riders coming in at one minute and eight seconds. He eluded the other five members of the seven-man breakout, who had escaped from the peloton with 133 kilometers to go, to take third place, almost two ahead of the peloton. But although it ended in victory, it took some time for the escape to emerge. In fact, thirty kilometers after the start of the race in Benicàssim and after several attempts to build an escape route, when a group of up to five cyclists established an escape point, this group was joined minutes later by two more cyclists, all from the same country. Professional teams, Squads and Continental Teams. Spaniards Gorka Sorarrain (CJR), Francisco Muñoz (PTK) and Iñigo Elosegui (EKP), Dutch Jetse Bol (BBH) and Alex Molenaar (IBA) and Italians Tonelli and Tarozzi came with a gap of almost nine minutes. There are approximately one hundred kilometers left to finish the 166 kilometer long stage, which covers the section between Benicàssim and Castellón.

As a matter of fact, while the escapees easily left behind Coll de La Bassa, which was in the third category, Euskaltel-Euskadi, which could not highlight any player behind it, was trying to dominate the peloton despite not having any team strength. Great success was achieved in reducing the gap with the leaders in the race.

So they continued forward as if they were racing against time, taking advantage of the last kilometers of the descent and the straight kilometers that followed until they reached Castellón, pushing themselves until they reached the streets of the city; They would have to win the race despite taking the wrong exit at the roundabout and getting stuck for a few seconds with tape blocking the same exit.

In any case, both were able to move on and Tonelli took victory over the non-sprinting Tarozzi, leaving the stage victory to his compatriot and teammate on the first day of the Volta.

Thursday, Canals-Valldigna

This Thursday the second phase of the Volta will occur before entering the province of Alicante.