It is not a Volta with a large roster of sprinters. Gone are the times when Mario Cipollini amassed four stages in the 1998 edition. The Italian, nicknamed Il bello, accumulated 11 wins in five years. But it is logical that with three high mountain stages the sprinters avoid the Catalan race. And even more so if there are classics in Belgium like this week. But they still have opportunities and when they have one, like this Thursday in Lleida, they have to take advantage of them like Marijn van der Berg did.
The Dutch cyclist from Education First won the mass finish in the fourth stage, the first of the Volta in which Pogacar was not on the podium. Of course, the Slovenian champion continues to lead the overall standings. “It has been a good day to be relaxed in the peloton,” said Pogacar, after his two victories in the Pyrenees days.
Van der Berg, 24, had not yet won this course. He was close in Mallorca and also in the Algarve. He finally achieved it in Lleida, where in a wide straight he beat the Belgian Arne Marit (Intermarché) and the Latvian Emil Liepins (DSM). “It has been difficult because since there are no great sprinters here, everyone thinks they can make a top-5,” reflected the Dutchman.
The winner is a step or two below the Philipsen, Milan, Merlier, Groves, Ewan, Welsford, Bauhaus or Démare. But he follows in the wake of the great school of his country where Kooij, Groenewegen, Jakobsen and Danny van Poppel currently stand out.
In the absence of the greats, Van der Berg was the fastest in a day at more than 46 km/h, in which De Gendt, Arnesen and Berrade tried to arrive first. When they were caught, Maté (Euskaltel) tried but the sprint, in perhaps the only pure opportunity, was a given, with the only danger being the roundabouts.
The first overall were only seen in the Les Borges Blanques sprint, where Wout Poels, another Dutchman from Bahrain, got in to gain three seconds with which he momentarily snatches seventh place overall from Sepp Kuss ( Visma).