Home > News

Rusty Woods climbs the GC on Volta Ciclista a Catalunya’s first mountains day

Ben O'Connor snatches win and race lead

March 23, 2022
Share on SMS

The Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, the fourth stage race of the 2022 WorldTour, moved into the mountains on Wednesday, and Michael Woods climbed up the GC ten spots after losing time in Tuesday’s crash and echelon chaos. Ben O’Connor, who has a Vuelta a España and Giro d’Italia stage triumph on his palmares, swooped to victory and the race lead.

You can watch the 101st Volta Ciclista a Catalunya on FloBikes.


The First Two Stages

BikeExchange-Jayco might have won the first two stages via Michael Matthews and Kaden Groves, but it was DSM’S Jonas Iversby Hvideberg who wore the leader’s jersey. The first two days had seen echelons and crashes, and Woods, Simon Yates and Ivan Sosa were all 33 seconds back of GC rivals like Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde, Richard Carapaz and Guillaume Martin.

The Course

Wednesday’s first mountain stage was really about three long climbs. The first was 9 km of 5.6 percent, the second 20.2 km of 3.1 percent and the third, summit finish La Molina, 12.1 km of 4.4 percent. None of the three Cat. 1 ascents seemed particularly daunting. After two days of rain, the route was dry.

On the long drag to the first climb, Mont-Louis, a quartet of fugitives broke clear and after an hour of racing it had an 8:00 lead over the Movistar-powered peloton. Hvideberg was having trouble keeping contact on Mont-Louis. Tom Dumoulin abandoned after a visit to the medical car and Stage 1 winner Michael Matthews was obviously ill on his bike.

On the longest climb of the day, Collada de Toses, the escapees kept 2:00 of their advantage despite Bora-Hansgrohe joining Movistar’s efforts. Collada de Toses’ descent led directly to La Molina. Jumbo-Visma controlled the field on the drop.

La Molina

The steepest grades could be found in the first half of the summit finish’s 12 km length. The break only had 46 seconds at La Molina’s foot.

As soon as Hvideberg was dropped from the peloton, his Belgian DSM teammate Henri Vandenabeele attacked and O’Connor, fourth in last year’s Tour de France, lit out after him. Yates was spat out the back of the peloton. O’Connor found himself solo in the last 4 km, with Guillaume Martin trying to bridge over. Hugh Carthy worked to bring himself and Esteban Chaves to O’Conner’s wheel.

Inside 2 km to go, Mark Soler, buoyed by his move to UAE-Emirates, became O’Connor’s closest pursuer, but the Spaniard was swept up by the rest of the favourites. From that group João Almeida, Soler’s teammate, attacked.

But no one would nab O’Connor. Soler and Almeida’s teammate Juan Ayuso was second and Quintana came third.

2022 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Stage 3
1) Ben O’Connor (Australia/AG2R Citroën Team) 4:12:51
2) Juan Ayuso (Spain/UAE-Emirates) +0:06
3) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Arkea-Samsic) s.t.
39) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +0:39
112) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +12:14

2022 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya GC
1) Ben O’Connor (Australia/AG2R-Citroën Team) 12:44:20
2) Juan Ayuso (Spain/UAE-Emirates) +0:10
3) Nairo Quintana (Colombia/Arkea-Samsic) +0:12
36) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +1:32
106) Guillaume Boivin (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +21:53