Mads Pederson wins Etoile des Besseges first stage, Remco Evenepoel wins at Volta a la Comunitat Valencia
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BySam Webb
Updated 02/02/2022 at 20:56 GMT
Former world champion Pederson took the lead off TotalEnergies Chris Lawless in the final 200m of the Etoile des Besseges and powered uphill to the finish after strong winds had broken up the peloton 90km into the race. Meanwhile, Belgian Evenepoel impressed throughout the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana opening stage, returning from crash injuries sustained at Il Lombardia.
Vuelta a Valencia: Highlights as Evenepoel claims victory in opening stage
Mads Pederson of Trek-Segafredo overcame windy conditions in the South of France to win stage one of the Etoile des Besseges while QuickStep-AlpaVinyl's Remco Evenepoel claimed victory in the opening stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
Former world champion Pederson finished a second ahead of Arkea-Samsic’s Hugo Hofstetter and TotalEnergies’ Edvald Boasson Hagen in Bellegrade after an impressive uphill sprint to the finish line.
Strong winds broke the peloton up into smaller groups with 70km to go with Filippo Ganna of Ineos Grenadiers and Greg Van Avermaet of AG2R-Citroen among the leading bunch of elite riders.
As they moved towards the Cote de la Tour finale, the gap between the leading group and the trailing riders grew to 30 seconds.
Chris Lawless of Total Energies then pushed ahead and took the lead but the Briton could not stop Denmark's Pederson from powering ahead of him up the uphill tilt and claiming the win.
A last-minute drive from Boasson Hagen saw the Norwegian edge Alberto Bettiol of EF Education-EasyPost for third place while Lawless ended up finishing sixth at four seconds.
Stage two, which kicks off on Thursday, is a156km route from Saint-Christol-les-Ales to Rousson with another uphill tilt to the finish line.
Further south at Valencia's Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Belgian rider Evenepoel impressed throughout, pushing ahead from the start of the race.
Making his return after his crash at Il Lombardia had left him injured, the 22-year-old crossed the line 16 seconds ahead Aleksandr Vlasov.
Time bonuses mean the Belgian is 20 seconds ahead of Bora-Hansgroh debutant Vlasov.
Vlasov finished ahead of third-place Carlos Rodriguez of Ineos Grenadiers, who came in at 32 seconds.
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