:quality(85)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/BP4IQCZYXBC6NJ2ITPCYSOESAM.png "Egan Bernal fell: the Colombian had an accident a few meters from the finish line in the Vuelta a Catalunya")
Egan Bernal suffered a fall in stage 1 of the Tour of Catalonia – credit INEOS Grenadiers and Eurosport
The season of the best cycling in the world is still underway and Colombian riders are on Spanish asphalt for the 2024 Vuelta a Catalunya, one of the most notable events on the UCI World Tour calendar. On the opening day, Egan Bernal had a rather bittersweet day.
The first stage of the competition took place in the municipality of Sant Feliu de Guíxols, which included a 173.9 kilometer circuit-like route. Within the day’s route, three climbing points were determined in Alto de la Ganga, de los Ángeles and Sant Grau, categorized three and two, respectively.
For much of the route, Egan had an excellent pace, staying in the leading pack and aiming for a good initial place in the general classification; However, with only 500 meters to go before the finish line, the INEOS Grenadier rider was involved in an accident.
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Egan Bernal did not start the 2024 Tour of Catalonia in the best way – credit @eganbernal / Instagram
The blow not only represented physical pain for the Zipaquireño, but also mental, as he saw how the fruits he reaped from winning the sprint near Llagostera vanished with his fall. Seeing no neutralization in the times, Bernal saw a considerable loss of time as he crossed the finish line.
The best Colombian of the day was Harold Tejada, rider of the Astana Qazaqstan Team, who crossed the finish line in tenth position, taking the most positive results of the day for his compatriots.
For his part, Sergio Higuita, the last Colombian champion of this event, being crowned in 2022, also had a pretty good day, completing the course just behind Tejada, then finishing in eleventh place. Estevan Chaves, from EF Eductation-EasyPost, completed the group of best Colombians in 18th place.
Egan Bernal will have to stand out on the second day of the Vuelta a Catalunya 2024 – credit Getty Sports
As for Nairo Quintana, who also has a title from this race (2016) in his showcase, he finished the day outside the top twenty, although this is mainly due to his role in this Tour of Catalonia, behind the Movistar tights. Team, it is not that of leader.
On the second day of the competition, a good role is expected from the participating beetles. The route will include a constant climb between Mataro and Vall de Camprodon, which includes three sprint points and a special category climb (which determines extreme difficulty) to complete 186.5 total kilometers.
Nick Schultz won stage 1 of the Vuelta a Catalunya – credit @VoltaCatalunya/X
In an exciting opening day, Nick Schultz, from the Israel – Premier Tech team, won against Tadej Pogačar, from the United Arab Emirates, conquering the first stage of the competition.
At 29 years old, the Australian cyclist managed to stand out thanks to a strategic escape, catalyzed by the action of his teammate Stephen Williams, who obtained third position in the race. In the last 500 meters of the race, the oceanic managed to gain a slight advantage over the chasing group for the final sprint.
With 300 meters to go, Schultz sweated bullets, in the middle of the climb his legs stopped responding at a good pace and there Pogačar stepped on the accelerator, determined to hunt him down, took his bike like a rocket, but he didn’t have enough meters to be able to overcome him. . With a photo-finish finish, the Premier Tech cyclist was able to overcome the Slovenian’s attack to be the first overall leader in the 2024 Vuelta a Catalunya.
In fourth position was the Frenchman Dorian Godon, from the Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team, and the top 5 was completed by the Frenchman Axel Laurance, from the Alpecin – Deceuninck.