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

[Keram]

Astounding sprinting field with the likes of Sagan, Kanter and Venturini.

Do you think there is chance of sprint stage?

 

[Ricco']

Do you think there is chance of sprint stage?

The first stage (if not for a wild De Gendt or Paterski) finishes almost always with a big group.

 

[Koronin]

Do you think there is chance of sprint stage?

Stage 1 has a habit of finishing in a field sprint. Granted not many sprinters usually show up for this race and in 2018 Valverde won the stage one field sprint.

 

[Bonimenier]

Stage 1 has a habit of finishing in a field sprint. Granted not many sprinters usually show up for this race and in 2018 Valverde won the stage one field sprint.

That's a lie. Stage 1 was won by Hodeg. Valverde won stage 2 in a sprint, but pretty much all sprinters were dropped.

 

[Koronin]

That's a lie. Stage 1 was won by Hodeg. Valverde won stage 2 in a sprint, but pretty much all sprinters were dropped.

See stage 1 was a field sprint and stage 2 was also a slightly reduced field sprint. Thus showing you can get sprints in this race.

 

[johnymax]

I remember one edition where Mezgec won 3 stages in a sprint/reduced sprint. In all three of them a young Alaphilippe was right behind him in second place, if I remember correctly.

Edit:
I've just checked. It was in 2014. I was wrong about Alaphilippe. He had a 2nd, a 3rd and a 4th place in those sprints.

 

[Cannavaro]

Stage 6 is very flat. The y-axis is a little inflated, so at first glance it looks hilly.

 

[BigCoward]

Stage 6 is very flat. The y-axis is a little inflated, so at first glance it looks hilly.

Yep, that 3.3% last hill looks brutal.

 

[Fernandez]

Carapaz has to be the favourite. Right now is the best Ineos card for stage races, I think. I wish to see any glimpse of Valverde coming into some form.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Carapaz has to be the favourite. Right now is the best Ineos card for stage races, I think. I wish to see any glimpse of Valverde coming into some form.

Based on what? Carapaz has never top 10'd a week long WT-race, while Adam Yates has 11 top 10's in week long WT-races and has arguably been the 4th strongest week long stage-racer the last two years after Roglic, Pogacar and Evenepoel.

 

[SafeBet]

Maybe I'm missing something but I don't really see Carapaz among the favorites here.
He generally starts his season undercooked and he's just not that good as a one week stage racer (0 career top10s in WT one week stage races).

Meanwhile Ineos starts Catalunya with 2 of the absolute best one week stage racers in contemporary cycling (Porte and A. Yates).


Edit: didn't see HK's post.

 

[Earns1985]

Especially interested in Kämna´s performance here.
He will be Bora´s GC leader here. It´s his first race, but he trained well during the last couple of weeks.

Erst die Tour, dann zu Olympia: Lennard Kämna träumt vom Doppelpack

Montag startet der Bremer Radprofi bei der Katalonien-Rundfahrt in die Saison. Ein erster Gradmesser, wo der Tour-Etappensieger von 2020 steht. Schließlich hat er noch viel vor.

www.butenunbinnen.de

 

[BlueRoads]

Especially interested in Kämna´s performance here.
He will be Bora´s GC leader here. It´s his first race, but he trained well during the last couple of weeks.

Erst die Tour, dann zu Olympia: Lennard Kämna träumt vom Doppelpack

Montag startet der Bremer Radprofi bei der Katalonien-Rundfahrt in die Saison. Ein erster Gradmesser, wo der Tour-Etappensieger von 2020 steht. Schließlich hat er noch viel vor.

www.butenunbinnen.de

Terrible shirt! But he seems like such a nice guy.
I am really excited to see what he does, too. Hopefully the Kelderman -Kämna duo will work out well.

 

[Poursuivant]

Richard Porte will win this.

 

[HelloDolly]

Carapaz, A Yates, (Thomas, Porte?)
Kruijswijk, Kuss, G Bennett
Mas
S Yates
Almeida
Carthy

Who else for top 5?

Woooah ..wait a minute

Richie Porte looks like the leader for Ineos

Dan Martin who has won this race and has several top 10 deserves a punt
Nairo Quitana who also has a good record here
Jai Hindley and Wout Poels are very good climber and this is a climbers race
Kilco Kelderman also one to watch

I dont see Mas doing much so early in the season
Same for Hugh Carthy
Not sure about G Bennett either

Looking forward to seeing Chris Froome and how his form is
Maybe Valverde will try and win a stage esp the one in Barcelona

 

[SafeBet]

Kilco Kelderman also one to watch

Kilco Welderman one to watch even closer!

 

[Koronin]

Carapaz, A Yates, (Thomas, Porte?)
Kruijswijk, Kuss, G Bennett
Mas
S Yates
Almeida
Carthy

Who else for top 5?

Based on current form of what we've seen from Movistar's riders, I'd say Soler is their better option right now. He should be in better form than Mas as he's getting ready for the Giro.

 

[search]

Based on current form of what we've seen from Movistar's riders, I'd say Soler is their better option right now

Soler is also competing for his beauty of a jersey (only awarded on the podium, though, not worn during the stages):

With Kern Pharma lining up three Catalans, there's also a bit more competition than usual. In the end it should probably still go to Soler or de la Cruz, though. (Pedrero is the 6th Catalan around - making it 6 more than last time )

 

[ciranda]

Kilco Welderman one to watch even closer!

Welderman, the working class superhero.

 

[Koronin]

Soler is also competing for his beauty of a jersey (only awarded on the podium, though, not worn during the stages):

With Kern Pharma lining up three Catalans, there's also a bit more competition than usual. In the end it should probably still go to Soler or de la Cruz, though. (Pedrero is the 6th Catalan around - making it 6 more than last time )

That's right, they do have a jersey for the top Catalan rider.

 

[BlueRoads]

What do you expect for today?

 

[tobydawq]

What do you expect for today?

Sagan to win.

Or perhaps a break.

 

[Ricco']

Based on what? Carapaz has never top 10'd a week long WT-race, while Adam Yates has 11 top 10's in week long WT-races and has arguably been the 4th strongest week long stage-racer the last two years after Roglic, Pogacar and Evenepoel.

Tbf, he didn't had much shots to be leader in WT stage races.

In Movistar he did 4 WT stage races since 2018, one where Quintana and Valverde were leading (2019 Catalunya), one where Soler won (and he was 11th, Paris-Nice 2018), Tirreno 2019 (no MTF that year) and Pologne 2018.

Since he gained a bigger status with his Giro win, the only 1-week WT stage race he did was Pologne last year (already with Ineos), where he was with the leader's jersey when he crashed on the stage to Bukowina and DNS the next day.

 

[tobydawq]

Why don't the organisers show any consideration to those poor people like me who tend to memorise start lists for WorldTour stage races by ordering start numbers after the alphabet?

 

[BlueRoads]

Why don't the organisers show any consideration to those poor people like me who tend to memorise start lists for WorldTour stage races by ordering start numbers after the alphabet?

That I don't know. Send a letter of complaint?

Me, I think Jumbo and Bora should switch their DS.