This weekend signified the end of the first round of early-season stage races, with Opening Weekend and the Classics arriving in just a few day’s time. Last week we saw the UAE Tour, the Volta ao Algarve and the Vuelta a Andalucía/Ruta del Sol, featuring a variety of the protagonists we’re expecting to see in this summer’s men’s Grand Tours.
It’s too early to use these February races as a barometer for July or even May, but they’re a handy indicator as to who’s wintered well and who has a little further to go, and more. We take a look.
Isaac Del Toro 2-1 Remco Evenpoel
Perhaps the most impressive overall performance of the past week has come from young Mexican Isaac del Toro. The UAE Tour was the first race of the season for the 20-year-old UAE Team Emirates-XRG, and one which he began in the shadow of Belgian star Remco Evenepoel.
All eyes were on the Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe rider, as one of the few big stars to openly declare Tadej Pogačar-beating intentions.
The first two stages saw the pair take one apiece, but on the stage three summit finish to Jebel Mobrah, Evenepoel began to fade, losing two minutes and his GC lead to winner Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious) and declaring afterwards: “I don’t know what happened.” Del Toro, however stayed strong and close to the race lead.
After two days of GC stalemate the Mexican added another stage and took the GC lead at Jebel Hafeet summit finish, while Evenepoel continued to languish among the also-rans, ultimately finishing 10th on GC.
The final report: a ‘could do better’ for Evenepoel; a gold star for Del Toro.
Tom Pidcock opens his account
(Image credit: Getty Images)
With a win in the final stage of the Vuelta a Andalucía, Tom Pidcock‘s tally for the year is off and running.
After a particularly successful round of results in last season’s early stage races, the 26-year-old will be relieved to have been able to notch up a result here again.
“I think it’s great to get the pressure off and get the hands in the air early in the season in the first block of races,” he said afterwards. “That’s definitely what we were working towards.”
It doesn’t quite live up to last year’s four wins in early stage races, but that’s not the point. While he was second in Strade Bianche last year, Pidcock went the whole season without a WorldTour win while he settled into his new Q36.5 team, and he will be looking to correct that this year.
Juan Ayuso breaks the ice
Over at the Volta ao Algarve, Juan Ayuso was opening his account too, which will have gone down well with his new Lidl-Trek, who prised him from UAE Team Emirates-XRG last year mid-contract. Like Pidcock, Ayuso won the final stage, but the Spaniard enjoyed the added bonus of that victory also netting him the overall.
Like most of his rivals at the Volta al Algarve, who included old team-mate Joāo Almeida, Oscar Onley (Ineos Grenadiers) and Matthew Riccitello (Decathlon CMA CGM), Ayuso is focused on the summer Grand Tours (the Tour de France in the Spaniard’s case). But this first ever win at Lidl-Trek is a great icebreaker and will alleviate some of the pressure going forward to the bigger race.
Away from the politics, Ineos Grenadiers looking positive
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Politics and rash outbursts by their owner Jim Ratcliffe aside, Ineos Grenadiers are enjoying a start to the season that belongs right up there with some of their best years.
A time trial victory by an impressive-looking Filippo Ganna at the Volta ao Algarve brought the team’s win tally to seven so far this year, all taken by a healthy variety of riders, including 20-year-old AJ August at the Vuelta Valenciana and new Aussie signing Sam Welsford in the Tour Down Under.
Add to that new signing Oscar Onley‘s second-place right behind Ayuso on the final stage at Algarve, and you have a team that is looking in great shape for the months to come – and potentially able once again to challenge for the podium at the Tour de France.
Paul Seixas seizes the day
The name Paul Seixas will be familiar to many already, despite his mere 19 years and the fact that until last week he was yet to win a professional race. As the winner of last year’s Tour de l’Avenir though, the Decathlon CMA CGM rider already had plenty to show off.
His win on the cat-one climb to Foia at the Volta ao Algarve though, where he outsprinted Ayuso no less, was a watershed career moment for the Frenchman though, and he went on to finish an impressive second on the GC and take the youth classification. It was, said Seixas, “an almost perfect start to the season”. These are results that bode well for Seixas’s upcoming assault on hilly Classics, including Strade Bianche and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
