"I was so cold that I couldn't change gears" - Brutal weather on opening stage of Volta a Catalunya 2025 takes a toll in the peloton
Cycling
The 2025 Volta a Catalunya opened up on Monday afternoon. Far from sunshine and warmth you might expect however, the peloton were battered by an ice cold rain for much of the day. For some, this inclement weather took a real toll.
With only a group of around 20 riders getting the same time as stage winner Matthew Brennan, a number of general classification hopefuls suffered early time loss to varying degrees. Team Jayco AlUla leader Ben O’Connor came home 37th on the day, meaning the Aussie is 25 seconds down on GC after the opening stage. According to O'Connor's teammate Anders Foldager however, the nasty weather conditions made an already tricky finish to the stage almost impossible.
"It was okay until the end. I was so cold that I couldn't change gears, and then I exploded," a still shivering Dane told Feltet.dk in a post-stage interview afterwards. "The last 60 kilometers were full pedaling, and it got very hectic. I was just 300 meters away from being there on the last climb before the finish."
Although the rain is expected to disappear for this afternoon's stage 2, the peloton are likely to face another issue today, alongside the always challenging parcours - wind. Whether O'Connor, Jayco and Foldager can bounce back? We'll find out this afternoon.
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The rain in Spain falls mainly on the peloton 🌧️😤
— GreenEDGE Cycling (@GreenEDGEteam) March 24, 2025
A soggy opening day to #VoltaCatalunya104 ✅
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