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100th Volta Ciclista a Catalunya(2.UWT) - 22nd March - 28th March

Right, it's time for yet another WorldTour stage race, this time we (or rather the riders) are heading to Spain for the 100th edition of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.

Starlist hasn't been finalised yet, but here is a so-far one:

Startlist for Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2021 (procyclingstats.com)

A name of note is of course the real Chris Harper. While Marc Hirschi returns from wherever he disappeared off to.

Another very important - or maybe not - factor will be the Battle of the Twins! Where he'll see Adam and Simon Yates face up against each other for the first time since turning pro.

Profiles in following posts.
 
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Stage 1. Calella › Calella (178.4k)

volta-a-catalunya-2021-stage-1-profile-5f9631e036.jpg
 
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Regarding the race, it will be interesting to see who will go here. Without all the phenomenons of the sport from last week, it might even be quite open who ends up winning.

And an ITT in Catalunya? Nice, especially as it is located before the mountain stages. And the Barcelona stage has been great the past few years, except in 2020 where nothing happened.
 
Two of my most expensive cq picks finally start their season here, Kämna and Hirschi, so I'm excited to see how they go.
For GC this could become Carapaz vs. Almeida...?
Carthy hasn't raced much thus far but is in good shape.
Hindley was improving during Paris-Nice, keep an eye on him.
Not sure about Carapaz since he'll make his debut here and he tends to start a bit slow, I think.
 
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Very interested to see how Kämnas shape is straight out of training. He says it should be quite good but let's see. Kelderman will probably not be doing much here after the crash/recovery.
Champoussin has looked great so far, I hope he can do a good GC here. Vanhoucke and Almeida will be there, Kruijswijk and Bennett as well.
Let's see if Carthy and Hindely can confirm their GT levels from last year with them coming in form.
Movistar better hope that Mas and Soler have picked up form, I don't see Valverde doing much here.

Personally then I'll also be rooting for Kern Pharma and their climbers (Adría and Novikov) to do decent rides.
 
Crazy to think that this is the first Spanish* stage race of this season.

Climbs

Stage 1
Coll de Terra Negra
Col_de_Terra_Negra_Tossa_de_Mar_profile.gif


Port de les Guilleries

Port de Santa Fe del Montseny (final 13.9k only)
SantaFeDeMontsenyNE.gif


Port de Collsacreu
collsacreu.png


Stage 3
Collet de Sant Agusti
339-santagusti-perafita.gif


Vallter 2000
vallter.PNG


Stage 4
Port de Toses (minus the final 900m)
TosesSE.gif


Port del Cantó
ll63.png


Port Ainé
PortAine.gif


Stage 5
Coll de Comiols
ll51.png


Colldarboç (first 4.8k of the profile below)
ba18.png


Port de Montserrat (the profile below as far as the junction at 1.6k)
MontserratE.gif


Stage 6
Port de l'Ullastrell
UllastrellW.gif


Alt El Collet
167-collet-cardedeu.jpg


Stage 7
Coll de la Creu d'Ordal
27-ordal-molins%20de%20rei.jpg


Then the main climb on the circuit is the final 900 meters of this (from the Ca Montjuic sign onwards):
castell-de-montjuic-perfil1.png
 
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