We’re lucky at VeloVoices in that we have great photographers sharing their photographs with us from all kinds of races. This week, we’ve gone from Davide Calabresi’s snow-encrusted shots of Sunday’s Milan-San Remo to Ian Walton, aka The Musette, in sun-kissed Catalunya. We met Ian in our Friday Feature last month and we’re really taken with his grainy, old-school style, so we are thrilled that he offered to share his photographs from the opening stages of the Volta with us. (All photographs are ©Ian Walton.)
Getting racy
Vacansoleil boys waiting for the action to start
Alejandro Valverde doing press before the start of stage 1
Bradley Wiggins after he signed in
Cristiano Salerno going over some details
Local favourite Joaquim Rodriguez was presented with his trophy as 2012’s No. 1 rider by UCI’s Pat McQuaid
Secret Sky plans are a-hatchin’!
On the road, waiting for the riders to come past and collect their musettes …
… And they arrive
Gianni Meersman of OPQS receives his bouquet for his stage 1 victory
Portraits of the riders as young men
Sky rider Christian Knees
Purito
Valverde
Lotto Belisol’s Francis de Greef
Christian Vande Velde (Garmin-Sharp)
Garmin’s Ryder Hesjedal
The leg of GreenEdge&Ham
Argonaut Thomas Damuseau in the wheels
You can follow Ian on Twitter and see more of his work on his blog.