Nacer Bouhanni went some way to putting the disappointment of Milan-San Remo behind him, by taking the first stage and the leader's jersey in the Volta a Catalunya.
The Cofidis rider comfortably outpaced Ben Swift (SKY) on the slightly uphill finish in Calella to win by two bike lengths. It was a win many felt he could have taken two days ago, had his chain not dropped in the last stages in San Remo.
The day's break consisted of just three riders, Boris Dron (WGG) and Lluis Mas (CJR) joined by Dimension Data's Cameron Meyer, with the aim of making it over the day's five climbs to take the King of the Mountains jersey. They were caught part way through the race on the category 1 Coll Formic, but Meyer had already accrued enough points to secure the red jersey for day 2.
Once the break had been caught, a group of almost 40 riders separated themselves from the main peloton, with Louis Vervaeke (LTS) punching clear of those to claim the intermediate sprint, but his attempt at taking the stage was quashed by Team Sky, dragging the race back together.
Sky were clearly working to get Ben Swift, second in Milan-San Remo, well placed in this comparatively weak sprint field, with only one genuinely flat stage of the week's seven to draw the sprinters to Catalunya.
Despite that, Sky still had to work hard, along with Orica-GreenEDGE working for Daryl Impey, and Cofidis for Bouhanni. Impey's team looked best placed initially, before Ben Swift launched with 200m to go.
Bouhanni had perfectly read who his main threat was, however, and kept in Swift's slipstream, surging past 150m from the line to win convincingly over the British rider, with Impey close at hand in third.
Jon Herranz
It will be a particularly sweet win for Bouhanni, who had originally considered not racing this week as he struggled to cope with his disappointment in Italy on Saturday. He may yet get further success this week, with his superb recent form coupled with a few stages which look to suit the Frenchman.
Stage winner Nacer Bouhanni (COF):
“It’s great to have this win and the Volta is a great race, but it doesn't make up for the disappointment of San Remo.
“It was a very hard finish, but we worked well with Movistar on the last big climb. There are maybe three or four opportunities for me in total, including tomorrow, and we’ll work in all of them as best we can.”
Stage results
1. Nacer Bouhanni (COF) 4:28:51
2. Ben Swift (SKY) + :00
3. Daryl Impey (OGE) + :00
General Classification
1. Nacer Bouhanni (COF) 4:28:41
2. Ben Swift (SKY) + :04
3. Daryl Impey (OGE) + :06
4. Louis Vervaeke (LTS) + :07
5. Javier Moreno (MOV) + :08
6. Ruben Fernandez (MOV) + :09
7. Cameron Meyer (DDD) + :09
8. Enrico Gasparotto (WGG) + :10
9. Aleksei Tsatevich (KAT) + :10
10. Carlos Barber (CJR) + :10
Mountains Classification
1. Cameron Meyer (DDD) 28
2. Boris Dron (WGG) 27
3. Lluis Mas (CJR) 17
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