Volta a Catalunya: Nick Schultz holds off Tadej Pogačar to win thrilling stage 1

Nick Schultz (Israel-Premier Tech) held on to win the opening stage of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya on Monday, narrowly beating a rampaging Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) to the line, with his teammate Stephen Williams taking third.

As expected, the stage came down to a tight uphill sprint but rather than waiting for the favourites to launch their moves Schultz attacked through the technical corners that came before the straight final drag to the line.

The Australian quickly managed to open up a sizeable gap on the field before Bora-Hansgrohe took control of the chase. Their efforts proved futile and forced Pogačar to launch from the pack but even the Slovenian rider couldn't catch Schultz, who hung on by half a bike length to take the biggest win of his career.

"I don't win very often. Today I took it up at the front with 4km to go to help the lead-out for Stevie Williams. He was yelling for me to keep going. At that point I just thought that I was keeping the pace high to try and provoke an attack. I had a look around with 500m to go and at that point the legs were screaming. This is huge for me and the team," Schultz said at the finish.

The win puts Schultz into the race lead with Pogačar in second overall.

How it unfolded

The stage saw a five-rider group go clear in the opening kilometres with Kenny Elissonde (Cofidis), Simone Petilli (Intermarché-Wanty), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel–Euskadi), Alex Baudin (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Adne Holter (Uno-X) moving clear of the peloton.

The break were never allowed to establish a significant gap on the peloton and with 40km to go their lead stood at just 19 seconds.

With such a stacked GC peloton that included Pogačar, Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas (both Ineos Grenadiers), Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Simon Yates (Jayco AlUla), the stage was always going to be decided by the squad with interests in the overall standings.

With 33km to go the break were reeled in with UAE Team Emirates setting the pace on the final categorised climb of the Alt de Sant Grau. Pogačar's teammates João Almeida and Marc Soler set a punishing pace on the descent, and in the technical run-in Williams and Schultz moved to the front.

With just over 1km to go Williams allowed his teammate to drift of the front and when there was no reaction from the main field the Australian had all the room he needed to pick up a maiden WorldTour win.

Explore more about the Volta a Catalunya on our dedicated race page.