“When the gap went to nine minutes we believed we could make it to the finish” - Alessandro Tonelli on his victory at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana
Cycling
After an incredible breakaway victory on stage 1 of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, Alessandro Tonelli was delighted with his win, as he crossed the line alongside his teammate Manuele Tarozzi in a one-two finish for VF Group - Bardiani CSF - Faizanè. This victory marks just the second win of the Italian rider’s career, with his last success being on stage 4 of the 2018 Tour of Croatia.
However, there was a moment of panic in the final kilometre, as both riders took a wrong turn at a roundabout. In an interview with Eurosport after the race, Tonelli said “I knew that we had a two-minute gap and in the last kilometre I took the wrong way to the finish line, but we had a good gap to arrive at the finish line and we won”.
When asked at what point the pair decided who was going to win the stage, Tonelli revealed “on the climb, because I was stronger than my teammate and he told me “you win, you win” and I won” he said laughing.
At a certain point during the stage, the breakaway had a massive advantage over the peloton. On when he actually started to believe that the breakaway could go all the way, Tonelli said “when the gap went to nine minutes we believed we could make it to the finish and we did it”.
Finally, on what the victory meant to Tonelli, he said “it is most important, because this race is important for me and for the team, and today started the season for VF Group - Bardiani CSF”.
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- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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🥇Prima vittoria ITALIANA della stagione per la VF Group Bardiani-CSF Faizanè🇮🇹Tonelli VINCE la prima tappa della Volta Valenciana, un’azione strepitosa del duo Tonelli Tarozzi💪
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