Felix Großschartner denies his rivals on stage one of Vuelta a Burgos 2020 after wind defines the day

Austria's Felix Großschartner continues Bora-Hansgrohe's amazing start to racing since the coronavirus break

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Racing in the Vuelta a Burgos 2020 kicked off with a bang as Bora-Hangrohe's Felix Großschartner took victory with a late attack ahead of João Almeida and Alejandro Valverde, who led in the favourites in the bunch sprint.

The first major race since lockdown started in Spain as the star-studded peloton faced a slightly undulating route to negotiate before finishing on the Alto del Castillo in the city of Burgos.

Echelons were the word on everyone's lips going into the day and the wind did not disappoint.

How it happened

As the peloton set out on a 157km day in the saddle, a four man break of Gotzon Martin (Fundacion Ciclista Euskadi), Jetse Bol (Burgos - BH), Diego Sevilla (Kometa Xstra Cycling Team) and Kiko Galván (Equipo Kern Pharma) escaped up the road early, with Martin taking the first mountain points of the race along with the jersey.

It was Deceuninck - Quick-Step along with Trek-Segafredo and Movistar that put in the initial burst to eventually split the pack in the wind. with around 45km left to race.

On a gentle rise, Remco Evenepoel (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) and teammate João Almeida attacked the group with Evenepoel eventually going solo with 35km to go.

The European time trial champion had a gap of 35 seconds at its peak, before the peloton pulled him back.

Willie Smit (Burgos-BH) then went on the counter with 22km to go and, with a tricky approach to the finish, he pulled out to 15 seconds before inevitably tiring and being caught on the descent into Burgos.

All the big name favourites had made the lead group as they crossed the line for the first time before doing a 14km loop back around. Team Ineos controlled for their leaders, defending champion, Ivan Sosa and Giro d'Italia champion, Richard Carapaz, who won a similar stage at the Giro d'Italia last year.

But, it was to be Bora-Hansgrohe's day as they continued their high after getting four stage wins and a one-two at the Sibiu Tour just a few days ago.

This is off the back of the overall win at Paris-Nice, just before lockdown, won by German champion, Max Schachmann.

The last few kilometres were rapid as they descended into Burgos with CCC Team and Mitchelton-Scott taking control of the pace working for the likes of Matteo Trentin and Simon Yates.

The pace continued to be high as they hit the base of the Alto del Castillo which was lead into by Bora-Hansgrohe, with around 600 metres to go Großschartner attacked, the main favourites decided not to follow straight away and began to look at each other.

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The Austrian climber showed excellent pace and kept his advantage, taking the win by eight seconds over Almeida, Valverde (Movistar) and Alex Aranburu (Astana), with the rest of the favourites lead home by Mikel Landa (Bahrain - McLaren) at ten seconds.

Vuelta a Burgos 2020, stage one: Catedral de Burgos - Alto del Castillo (157km)

1. Felix Großschartner (Aut) Bora - Hansgrohe, in 3-40-21

2. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 8s

3. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar

4. Alexander Aranburu (Esp) Astana, all at same time

5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Bahrain-McLaren, at 10s

6. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ

7. Jon Aberasturi (Esp) Caja Rural

8. Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe

9. Matteo Trentin (Ita) CCC Team

10. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, all at same time

General classification after stage one

1. Felix Großshartner (Aut) Bora - Hansgrohe, in 3-40-21

2. João Almeida (Por) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 8s

3. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar

4. Alexander Aranburu (Esp) Astana, all at same time

5. Mikel Landa (Esp) Bahrain-McLaren, at 10s

6. David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama - FDJ

7. Jon Aberasturi (Esp) Caja Rural

8. Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hangrohe

9. Matteo Trentin (Ita) CCC Team

10. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, all at same time

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Tim Bonville-Ginn

Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!


I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.


It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.


After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.


When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.


My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.