French Rider Claims Stage Win at Volta a Catalunya Opener
By Guido Scholl
Dorian Godon (Ineos Grenadiers) edges out Remco Evenepoel (Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe) in a close finish. | Photo: Cor Vos
March 23, 2026 | (rsn) – Dorian Godon of INEOS Grenadiers took a thrilling victory in a hotly contested sprint finish to win Stage 1 of the Volta a Catalunya in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. Thomas Pidcock (Pinarello – Q36.5) finished third after a long uphill sprint.
The race came down to the width of a tire, with the French champion securing his second seasonal win, following his victory at the 7th stage of Paris-Nizza. Godon admitted he wasn’t immediately sure he’d won, holding back his celebration until the final confirmation. The challenging finish saw a mix of sprinters and general classification contenders vying for the top spots, with Lenny Martinez (Bahrain Victorious) finishing sixth and Henri Uhlig (Tudor) claiming eighth as the best German rider.
Thanks to a 10-second time bonus at the finish, Godon also takes the overall lead in the general classification. Remco Evenepoel sits second, four seconds behind, while Pidcock is third, six seconds back. A group of riders, including Silva, are ten seconds behind the leader.
Evenepoel appeared to lead the sprint, but Godon revealed he may have moved past the Belgian too early. “The last 50 meters were incredibly difficult and felt like an hour,” said the French rider, who also won a mountain sprint at Paris-Nizza just nine days prior. With his second WorldTour-level win in quick succession, Godon joked, “With the leader’s jersey, you never know, maybe I’ll defend it all the way to Barcelona.” He added that he believes Stage 2’s course suits his abilities.
This marked the second near-miss in Sant Feliu de Guixols for Evenepoel, who finished second in 2023 with the same finish, losing to then-teammate Primoz Roglic.
Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe) and Georg Steinhauser (EF Education – EasyPost) also finished with the front group alongside Uhlig, maintaining their positions among the top contenders. Derek Gee-West and Giulio Ciccone (both Lidl – Trek) were the only riders to lose significant time, finishing 1:46 behind, putting the pressure on Mathias Skjelmose to perform for their team.
Evenepoel leads the points classification heading into Stage 2, while Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto – Intermarché) wears the mountains jersey. Gualdi currently leads the young rider classification and Ineos Grenadiers is the best team after the opening stage, though You’ll see currently no time gaps in these secondary classifications.
How Stage 1 of the Volta a Catalunya Unfolded
A breakaway group of five riders – Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto – Intermarché), Unai Aznar (Euskaltel – Euskadi), Hugo Aznar (Kern Pharma), Josh Burnett (Burgos – Burpellet – BH), and Tyler Stites (Modern Adventure) – formed three kilometers after the start in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. Veistroffer secured both mountain points available during the stage, earning 13 points in the climbing classification, and also won both intermediate sprint points.
The stage profile for Stage 1 of the Volta a Catalunya | Photo: Organizer
The breakaway riders built a maximum lead of around four minutes, but teams including Ineos Grenadiers, Bahrain Victorious, and NSN Cycling began to close the gap after the descent from the Alt de Sant Hilari (Category 1 climb). They then controlled the gap, preventing the breakaway from gaining a significant advantage.
Around 30 kilometers from the finish, teams like Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe, Lidl – Trek, and Visma – Lease a Bike began positioning their leaders within the peloton. The gap quickly shrunk to under 20 seconds. In the first steep section of the undulating finale, the breakaway group began to fall apart. Veistroffer and Burnett held on the longest, but were caught by the peloton, led by UAE – Emirates – XRG, three kilometers from the finish.
3000 meters from the finish, Vingegaard took the front position in the now-thinned peloton. He briefly assessed the situation before personally setting the pace, until Sepp Kuss passed him 1.7 kilometers from the finish. NSN Cycling brought the field to the uphill finish line, where Pidcock launched the sprint early, followed by Evenepoel, and ultimately overtaken by Godon in the final meters. https://firstcycling.com/widget/?r=14&y=2026&s=1&nat=GEREXT&lang=DE" width="100%" height="410" scrolling="yes" frameborder="0
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