MADRID, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Australian rider Michael Matthews (Sunweb) won a tough uphill sprint to claim the second stage of the Volta de Catalonia (Tour of Catalonia) on Tuesday.
Matthews finished ahead of World Champion, Alejandro Valverde and South African Champion Daryl Impey in a sprint which turned into an agonizing 800-meter grind to the finish line.
It was an excellent win for the rider who had been forced to pull out of the recent Paris - Nice race (one of the biggest early season races) after suffering a crash in the first stage on March 10th.
"It was really hard, but I felt confident. I am really happy. When I saw Valverde behind me and I knew I had the power to win," said Matthews.
"It's only the team's second win of the year and we need it for the confidence and to know how strong we really are," he added.
The 166 kilometer second stage between Mataro and Saint Feliu de Guixols was another 'lumpy' stage and although it didn't include any mountains as such, a series of short, sharp climbs in the closing kilometers meant the end of the stage bit into the riders' legs, before the slightly uphill final 800 meters to the finish line.
Four times Tour de France winner, Chris Froome suffered a fall with 35 minutes remaining and although the British rider was at the race in order to gain pre-season form, he looked to struggle after losing skin off his upper leg eventually losing around 10 minutes to the stage leaders.
Thomas de Ghent (Lotto-Soudal) led the overall classification with a 2 minute 47 second advantage ahead of Wednesday's stage between Sant Feliu de Guixols and Vollter 2000, which includes two first and one special category climb, which should lead to changes in the overall classification.