2023 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana Stage 1 Results & Recap
Stage 1 of the 2023 Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana is in the books. The final results and standings are below, followed by our recap of how the race unfolded.
Race Recap
The town of Orihuela hosted this Wednesday the official start of the 74th edition of the VCV - Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana Gran Premi Banc Sabadell. The Intermarché Circus Wanty rider becomes the first African to win a stage of the VCV in its history.
Biniam Girmay (ICW) has won the first stage of the VCV - Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana Gran Premi Banc Sabadell, finishing in Altea. The Eritrean rider won in a tight sprint finish and became the first leader of the VCV 2023, which started this Wednesday in Orihuela. The second stage of the Valencian round will start this Thursday in Novelda and will have a fully mountainous route, with seven climbs and an unprecedented finish at the Alto de Pinos in Benissa.
The VCV 2023 kicked off with the ceremonial ribbon cutting in front of the Arco de Santo Domingo in Orihuela. Present were the mayoress of Orihuela, Carolina Gracia Gómez; the Orihuela sports councillor, Luis Quesada; the Director General of Tourism, Herick Campos; the deputy director general of Banco Sabadell, Fernando Canós; the regional director of Orihuela Vega Baja Manuel Villagordo; and the director of the VCV, Ángel Casero.
The stage was a mid-mountain route, with the climbs of Coll de Rates and Bernia as the main attractions. From the start, a breakaway of five riders managed to escape from the peloton and managed to get a lead of just over three minutes. The breakaway was formed by Héctor Carretero (KER), Xabier Isasa (EUS), Ander Okamika (BUR), Ward Vanhoof (TFB) and Ricardo Lucca (GBF). However, as soon as the peloton approached the first mountain climbs, it raised the pace and the breakaway had its minutes counted.
They didn't even make it to the top of the first of the climbs, the Coll de Rates. There, the peloton wanted to tighten the race and Marc Soler was the first to reach the mountain top, taking the first points for the red dots jersey. The main group did not separate again until the finish line. The teams, on this first day and with the season just started, did not want to give room for surprise and let someone escape that could jeopardize the future of their top riders.
Gino Mäder (BHR), Mikel Landa (BHR), Marc Soler (UAE) and Wout Poels (BHR) crowned the Bernia climb in the lead, leaving a first Soler-Landa duel for the mountains jersey that could be interesting for the next days of the race. The last kilometres before reaching the finish line in Altea were rather calm, with the occasional attack always neutralised by the teams that were betting on a mass sprint finish. Only the Valencian rider Joan Bou (EUS), motivated by racing on home soil, consolidated a small lead of around 10 seconds, but two kilometres from the finish line he was absorbed again by the bunch.
The mass sprint finish finally took place and the Eritrean Biniam Girmay won powerfully at the finish line in Altea. He was able to bide his time and after a couple of breakaways, he showed his power and won the Altea finish line with ease. First African to win a stage in the VCV - Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, which also allows him to be leader of the general classification, points and the best young rider in this VCV 2023 that has just started.
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