01/02/2023

Biniam Girmay surprisingly beats Olav Kooij winning stage 1 of Volta a Comunitat Valenciana

Intermarché-Circus-Wanty team keeps having a fantastic start of the season. This time their Eritrean rider Biniam Girmay out sprinted Olav Kooij and took the inaugural stage of Volta a Comunidad Valenciana being the first leader of the competition.

The stage started with a 5 men breakaway of riders from the pro continental teams present in the race. Eventually they were all caught around 65 km to the finish not being able of passing first into any of the categorized climbs. The peloton passed at the front of the 2 categorized climbs with Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) securing the leadership of the mountains classifications.

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Bahrain-Victorious and Intermarché-Circus-Wanty pulled in the climbs, but most of the sprinters passed the difficulties. Notable riders exceptions are Uno-X's Alexander Kristoff, UAE Team Emirates' Juan Molano and Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team's Matteo Moschetti.

All ended in a bunch sprint with Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) having an outstanding performance ahead of Olav Kooij (Jumbo-Visma) and Ivan Garcia Cortina (Movistar Team).