Ethan Vernon wins again in the Volta Catalunya
March 25 th 2025 - 18:23 [GMT + 1]
Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech) was the winner of the second stage of the 104th edition of the Volta Catalunya, which linked the towns of Banyoles and Figueres on a 180.5 kilometre route through inland Girona. The British sprinter, who has once again scored a victory in the Catalan race where he had achieved his first victory at WorldTour level in the 2022 edition, was able to beat the race leader Matthew Brennan (Team Visma | Lease a Bike) and the triple stage winner Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the explosive finish in Figueres, which once again hosted a stage finish of the Volta 56 years later.
163 riders took the start of the second stage of the Volta Catalunya on Tuesday 25 March, which went through the interior of the Girona area in one of the most favourable stages for the fast cyclists, with the ascent of two mountain passes in the central part of the route: the Coll Puig del Pení (3rd category) and the Alt de Sant Pere. From the first attack of the day, it was Calum Johnston (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Diego Uriarte (Team Kern Pharma) and Danny van der Tuuk (Euskaltel-Euskadi) who were able to form the breakaway of the day.
The peloton approached the group of three escapees at the foot of the second pass of the day, the monumental Alt de Sant Pere de Rodes (1st category), accelerated by the threat of the wind that had been blowing throughout the stage. In the final part of the pass, the promising Mario Aparicio (Burgos-BH) took advantage of the hardness of its ramps to jump from the peloton, overtake the escapees and crown alone. All in all, thanks to the push to lead the previous pass and suffer to be second in Sant Pere de Rodes, Van der Tuuk has secured one more day the leadership in the mountain classification of the Volta a Catalunya, in which he has been the protagonist of the breakaway in the first two stages.
With 70 kilometres to go, after the descent, the strong pace of the peloton neutralised the breakaway and the approach to Figueres, where there were two passes over the finish line, making for a tense end to the stage. At the third and final intermediate sprint of the day in Garriguella, 67 kilometres from the finish, the favourites fought for the bonus seconds with Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) as the best finisher, and despite some attacks from names such as Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) nothing could prevent a mass finish in the capital.
The leader's team, Team Visma | Lease a Bike, controlled the approach to the finish in Figueres, but the young Matthew Brennan was overtaken by a compatriot: the fast Ethan Vernon (Israel-Premier Tech), who in the 2022 edition of the Catalan race had won his first professional victory in Vilanova i la Geltrú. Three years later, he was able to raise his arms again and celebrate the stage victory in a tight finish ahead of Brennan himself, who was second, and the triple stage winner in the Volta, the Australian Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), who was third and came close to victory for the second consecutive day.
This Wednesday 26th March, the Volta a Catalunya will experience its finish on the other mountain with a very long day of 218.6 kilometres starting from Viladecans The Style Outlets and finishing at altitude in La Molina, which with its nearly 5,000 metres of accumulated positive altitude gain will begin to define the general classification among the big favourites.
