Slipstream/Chipotle’s Ryder Hesjedal and Trent Lowe managed to hang with some of the sport’s best climbers today on what was a surprisingly challenging first stage of the Volta a Valencia. The final climb of the day - Alt del Garbi - with widely varying 15-18% grades - broke the front group down to ten, two of which were sporting the argyle.

“Though it didn’t look that bad on paper, we knew the last climb was hard because Johnny (DS Weltz) had raced it many, many years ago and warned us about it this morning,” said Lowe. “The climb was really inconsistent so it was hard to get a rhythm, but we stayed with the front ten over the top. And Ryder told me he was feeling unbelievably good today.”

Lowe said tomorrow’s stage with its long circuit and fast climbs would be one for the sprinters - Chris “CJ” Sutton and Julian Dean. Having reconn’ed the route last week, Lowe said that tomorrow’s stage finished with a very dangerous, twisty decent that could make things interesting. The penultimate stage of the week will be stage 3 that Lowe said was, “..super hard, relentless with technical descents and some bad surfaces.”

When asked if what his goals were for Valencia, Lowe said, “Though I am building up for the Giro d’Italia in May, it is important to nail each race as we go. Each one is a step harder. Valencia is harder than Tour Med, and Paris-Nice harder still. Ultimately, it is how we measure up to the competition. And today we were up front with some of the best.”

Slipstream stage 1 results
1. Jose Gutierrez 3:46:59

9. Ryder Hesjedal mt
17. Trent Lowe mt
30. Lucas Euser 1:33
55. J. Pat McCarty 1:33
58. Timmy Duggan 1:33
69. Dan Martin 9:06
124. Chris Sutton 12:25
126. Julian Dean 12:25