Movistar Team wins Volta a Catalunya TTT 

Movistar Team wins Volta a Catalunya TTT in Banyoles after sensational performance from all its eight riders, now on top of the GC with Alejandro Valverde who is 1m and 15 seconds ahead of Contador

A magnificent ride rewarded the whole Movistar Team with their 10th success of the 2017 season on stage two of the Volta a Catalunya, a 41km TTT in Banyoles where the squad directed by José Luis Arrieta and José Luis Laguía narrowly edged out World champions BMC after the latter clocked a time impossible to beat for their rivals.

The telephone squad was the only one able to compete against the American team, initially putting eight seconds on the red formation after 21km in. The Blues resisted into a demanding second half, as Alejandro Valverde, Amador, Castroviejo, Soler, Fernández, Oliveira, Erviti and José Joaquín Rojas reached the line together to claim the leader's jersey. The Blues' effort allows Valverde putting 46 seconds on Chris Froome (SKY) and 1'15" on Alberto Contador (TFS), the main contenders for an overall classification surely hard-fought all the way to Barcelona on Sunday.

The Movistar Team will defend its coveted position on Wednesday at a demanding stage three, the first of two mountain-top finishes in the Volta towards La Molina (Cat-1). A first passage through the last climb will be tackled 25km from the finish, riders up for a demanding course with 4,300m vertical gain in 188km.

Alejandro Valverde: “It was a very tough time trial. We knew it would be hard, because we had ridden it five times during the last few days. It was a technical one, and knowing the course well ended up being key. We feared a bit the rain, because it would have made for a dangerous course, but we were lucky in the end and we got through it safe."

"We must go day-by-day, yet we put a very important gap on strong rivals today. It will be very difficult tomorrow, and I'm worried about bad weather again - let's hope we can stay dry all wekk. My legs have been feeling good over the last few days, despite not having raced anything since Andalucía, so I hope I can keep the jersey. Obviously, though, having Contador or Froome contesting it will make for a difficult defense."

2017 Volta a Catalunya Team Time Trial Top 20

1 Movistar Team 0:48:55 
2 BMC Racing Team 0:00:02 
3 Team Sky 0:00:46 
4 Trek-Segafredo 0:01:15 
5 Orica-Scott 0:01:24 
6 FDJ 0:01:44 
7 Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:48 
8 Astana Pro Team 0:02:05 
9 Lotto Soudal 0:02:10 
10 Quick-Step Floors 0:02:13 
11 AG2R La Mondiale 0:02:15 
12 Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:27 
13 CCC Sprandi Polkowice 0:02:37 
14 Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:47 
15 UAE Team Emirates 0:02:58 
16 Team Sunweb 0:03:04 
17 Bahrain-Merida 0:03:26 
18 Cannondale-Drapac 0:03:30 
19 Dimension Data 0:03:31 
20 Roompot - Nederlandse Loterij 0:03:45

2017 General Classification After Stage 2

1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 5:17:16 
2 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team   
3 Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team   
4 Marc Soler (Spa) Movistar Team   
5 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Movistar Team   
6 Ben Hermans (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:00:02 
7 Brent Bookwalter (USA) BMC Racing Team   
8 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team   
9 Rohan Dennis (Aus) BMC Racing Team   
10 Kilian Frankiny (Swi) BMC Racing Team   
11 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team   
12 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team   
13 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:00:46 
14 Peter Kennaugh (GBr) Team Sky   
15 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky   
16 Philip Deignan (Irl) Team Sky   
17 Mikel Landa (Spa) Team Sky   
18 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky   
19 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:00:49 
20 Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar Team 0:01:00 
21 Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:15 
22 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo   
23 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo   
24 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo   
25 Jarlinson Pantano (Col) Trek-Segafredo

VIDEO: 2017 Tour of Catalunya Team Time Trial Full