"Straight" is not the first word that comes to mind when summing up Michael Woods' 2022 season.

Currently competing in the Volta a Catalunya, the Israeli Premier Tech veteran has already earned a notable uphill stage win and second place overall in Galicia's very tough stage race, O Gran Camino, this year.

However, as he told Cycling News before the first stage of the Volta, his excellent run in the Gran Camiño in Galicia, Spain, was unfortunately sandwiched between several close encounters with gastroenteritis.

The first two stomach upsets came to DNS in the second stage of the Ruta del Sol, just a week before Galicia. Because, he said, "The bug reared its head again in the Camiño. Because, he said, "The bug reared its head again in the Camiño.

"I was doing great up until then, but after the last time trial, they made me sit in the hallway. I felt very bad."

Describing the illness as "pretty difficult" sounds like an understatement, but Woods said that after finding out it was a bacterial infection, he "took antibiotics and got to the bottom of it."

Woods was not alone in getting sick within the peloton this spring, he said, and may have been indirectly related to COVID-19 and the pandemic.

"The winter has been really good for me; I've been free of illness for two years because of COVID, and now it seems to be taking its toll on the immunosuppressed cyclists."

Woods said that he has been working with the COVID-19 team for the past two years.

So far, from a purely racing perspective, there has been a similar pattern of promising performances and unexpected setbacks at the Volta a Catalunya for Woods.

On day one, for example, Woods and the entire Israeli Premier Tech team were part of a strong mid-race breakaway that threatened to upset the entire GC battle for about 40 km.

On the second stage, however, they were among the GC leaders, including Simon Yates (Bike Exchange-Jayco), who lost more than 30 seconds.

But for Woods and the other GC riders, the real test of the Volta a Catalunya was yet to come. Stages 3 and 4 in La Molina and Boi Taur in the Pyrenees are expected to be more important aspects of the week-long race than minor time losses on the flatter stages.

"Both summits have very tricky finishes and are not straightforward. Tactics and positioning will play a big role," Woods, who knows the mountains inside out, said earlier this week.

"In La Molina, (Miguel Angel) Lopez is one of the few riders to win solo in recent years, and the rest have kicked in a group. So it will be interesting to see how it all plays out."

"Then the Boi Taul is a classic Catalan climb, much like the Valter 2000. It is steep in the beginning, with a recovery point in the middle, and runs up to 2000 meters in elevation."

As for the Israel-Premiatek mass attack on stage 1, which may have seemed like a huge strategic success at the time, Woods said it "happened" rather than being planned hours in advance.

"I noticed that the wind was picking up and I jumped at the chance because I knew that if I missed this opportunity, others would come out," he told Cycling News before the second stage.

"I was a little disappointed that I didn't get away in the end. We were riding very strong and together, but the odds were against us. 0]

But despite the team's total effort being a standout moment in the race, and perhaps his roller-coaster start to the season, Woods himself said he did not feel well at all during the day.

"After being at altitude for so long and then coming down, a fast race like this can be a bit of a shock to the system," he noted. But that's to be expected." Hopefully my legs will recover for the important stages [in Catalunya]."

In any case, all the sporting problems of the first stage were overshadowed by the drama that unfolded when Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) collapsed on the line, later identified as having an unstable arrhythmia that required immediate medical attention.

"It was an eye-opening experience. When I crossed the finish line, I saw him on the side of the road. It was an unforgettable image and very hard to watch," Woods said.

"It really makes you think about how lucky we are.