Alessandro Tonelli (VF Group-Bardiani-Faizanè) won the opening stage of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana in Castellón, crossing the line ahead of teammate Manuele Tarozzi after attacking out of the day's breakaway.
Oier Lazkano (Movistar) emerged from a late chase to take third over Alex Molenaar (Ileas Balears Arabay) one minute behind, just before Jonathan Milan (Lidl-Trek) led the peloton to the line.
The peloton mistimed their chase and could not close a nearly two-minute gap the Bardiani pair held after the category 2 Desert de las Palmes inside 20km to go. Despite a furtive effort from Bahrain Victorious, the two held off the chase to seize the lead in the overall classification.
"A beautiful day, I must thank my teammate Manuele Tarozzi for this success, who helped me throughout the race," Tonelli said. "This victory is very important because it means that we did an excellent job of during the winter. We will try to hold onto the leader's jersey as long as possible in the coming days. Now we will approach the races with more confidence and try to win again."
How it unfolded
The Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana opened in Benicàssim under sunny skies and pleasant temperatures, with riders free from the layers of winter training.
Francisco Muñoz (Polti Kometa) was the first rider to attack. but was quickly caught. It took almost 20km before a breakaway could be established, and Muñoz was again in the move.
The day's breakaway included Gorka Sorarrain (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Iñigo Elosegui (Kern Pharma), Jetse Bol (B&B Hotels), Tarozzi and Tonelli (VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè), Francisco Muñoz (Polti Kometa) and Alex Molenaar (Illes Balears Arabay).
The peloton was content to let the group get a big gap, stretching over nine minutes halfway through the stage before an undulating descent swung the balance in favour of the chase.
Jayco-AlUla led the chase for Michael Matthews, but when the breakaway hit a series of short, sharp climbs with 30km to go, their gap tumbled quickly.
As the road tilted up, UAE Team Emirates accelerated and halved the breakaway's gap.
With 25km to go, the VF Group-Bardiani duo attacked the breakaway and opened a decent gap, and in the peloton behind, Movistar came forward with Bora-Hansgrohe to lead the chase ahead of the category 2 climb to Desert de las Palmes, a 7.7km climb averaging 5.1%.
As Tonelli and Tarozzi forged on, Muñoz was the first to be dropped and was joined by Sorarrain as UAE came back to the front to eliminate the three-minute gap to the leaders, alternating with Bahrain Victorious.
The duo still had more than two minutes in hand as they started the quick descent into Castellón - had the peloton miscalculated?
Matej Mohorič (Bahrain-Victorious) hit out off the front of the bunch in his signature rocket-like descending style just as Muñoz came back and opened a big gap behind him by taking a terrible line into a bend.
However, with 5km to go, Mohorič hadn't made meaningful inroads and it looked like a Bardiani 1-2 would be inevitable. A moment of stress when they were briefly led off course forgotten, the pair could celebrate their achievement and relish the lead in the overall classification.
Results
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