Chris Froome stays in the pack on first stage as Thomas De Gendt grabs leader's jersey in Volta a Catalunya De Gendt launched a solo attack 60km from the finish on Monday Froome finished safely in the pack in the opening stage in Catalonia, Spain He is riding in his second event of the year following the Tour of Colombia By Press Association Published: 17:39 GMT, 25 March 2019 | Updated: 17:47 GMT, 25 March 2019 Viewcomments Chris Froome finished safely in the pack as Thomas De Gendt won the opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya in a breakaway. Lotto-Soudal's De Gendt launched a solo attack 60km from the finish of the 163km stage which started and finished in Calella, and took victory by two minutes and 38 seconds on Monday. Froome is riding in his first WorldTour race of the season, and only his second event of the year following on from the Tour of Colombia in February. Chris Froome finished safely in the pack in the opening stage of the Volta a Catalunya Team Sky's Froome is riding in his first WorldTour race of the season this week However, leadership of Team Sky is in the hands of Paris-Nice winner Egan Bernal, who finished eighth. Having picked up some bonus seconds late on the stage, the 22-year-old Colombian sits fifth in the general classification, two minutes 57 seconds behind De Gendt. Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site dailymail and under his responsibility