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2010 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya

May 6, 2009
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Kicks off on the 22nd in yet another new date. The race has struggled a fair bit in recent years with concerns over sponsorship, and I believe Catalunya is not exactly a hotbed of Spanish cycling (even though loads of pro cyclists live in Girona). Andy Schleck is down to race, after Contador dropped out to race in Corsica at the Criterium International, and Piestrong originally was meant to race, but he pulled out when he found AC was going to race.

Past winners include: Anquetil (1967), Merckx (1968), Ocaña (1971), Gimondi (1972), Thevenet (1974), Maertens (1977), Moser (1978), Lejarreta (1980, 1989), Kelly (1984, 1986), (Robert) Millar (1985), Indurain (1988, 1991, 1992), Mejia (1993), Chiapucci (1994), Jalabert (1995), Zulle (1996), Escartin (1997), Triki Beltran (1999), José Maria Jimenez (2000), Beloki (2001), Heras (2002), Popovych (2005), Karpets (2007), Valverde (2009).

Mariano Cañardo is the most successful winner of the race (1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1935, 1936, 1939). Special mention goes to Miguel Poblet (who turned 82 yesterday), who won the race in 1952, and 1960. He also went onto win Milan San Remo (1957, 1969), 20 Giro d'Italia stages (including the points jersey in 1968), and 3 stages apiece in the Tour de France and the Vuelta a Espana.

So I will spare you the history lesson that I just gave you and which no doubt you were bored reading :p, here are the stages:

Stage 1: Lloret de Mar (ITT), 3.6 km

2010altimetria1_600.jpg


Stage 2: Salt - Banyoles, 182.6 km

2010altimetria2_600.jpg


Stage 3: La Vall d'En Bas - La Seu d'Urgell, 185.9 km

2010altimetria2_600.jpg


Continued on the next page...
 
Feb 14, 2010
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I'd like to see the Astana guys show some fitness and consistency without the pressure they had at Paris-Nice. But mostly I'm anxious to see how Basso and Sastre are riding. It should be fun. You've got the Schlecks and Jens riding together, Caisse & Luisle without Valverde, and the usual suspects to make the breaks and attacks interesting. I was anxious to watch Contador ride, but the dynamics change a bit without him there and with more guys having done a recent stage race, this could be wide open. It's a good test for Wiggins 2010 as well.
 
No MTF or climb over 2000 feet.(700m) This is what happens when you shift a climber's stage race to mid March, to accommodate a more testing Tour of California, which then pretty much fails to deliver the parcours.:mad:

Looks like there will be net coverage and probably more than the average Spanish event.
Could be a busy week of net cycling, next week.

Stage 3 profile is missing.....
Stage 3: La Vall d'En Bas - La Seu d'Urgell, 185.9 km

 
Sep 21, 2009
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Mellow Velo said:
No MTF or climb over 2000 feet.(700m) This is what happens when you shift a climber's stage race to mid March, to accommodate a more testing Tour of California, which then pretty much fails to deliver the parcours.:mad:

I don't see any link between the race being in March and not having any decent climb. It's just the current trend in 1-week stage races. Catalunya only has some serious climbs if Andorra pays for a stage finish, as it happened last year.

Just for the curious, a few years ago Catalunya had two stage races each year: Volta a Catalunya and the Setmana Catalana. The latter was held in late March and in their last edition (2005) they had a mountain top finish at Coll de Pal (2100 m or ~7000 ft)

Enjoy the video ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTtrUjWvAJE
 
Mar 18, 2009
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This is by a very long margin the worst course I've ever seen for this race.

Where are the two usual mountain finishes?
First the Tour de Suisse, now this. What cool race are they going to neuter next?

bah
 
Sep 25, 2009
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icefire said:
I don't see any link between the race being in March and not having any decent climb. It's just the current trend in 1-week stage races. Catalunya only has some serious climbs if Andorra pays for a stage finish, as it happened last year.

Just for the curious, a few years ago Catalunya had two stage races each year: Volta a Catalunya and the Setmana Catalana. The latter was held in late March and in their last edition (2005) they had a mountain top finish at Coll de Pal (2100 m or ~7000 ft)

Enjoy the video ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTtrUjWvAJE

thanks. 22 yo berto with the same beautiful style but no bang-bang at he finish yet.
 
Sep 2, 2009
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Sep 16, 2009
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Luis Leon Sanchez

Though that Liquigas team looks the strongest there is. Who would they ride for. Basso or Kreuziger considering Basso is targeting May?
 
May 6, 2009
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Sasquatch said:
Why isn't Contador racing here?

Because he wants to race with Lance Armstrong at Criterium International. Would be like torturing kittens IMO.

On a side note, why hasn't the Alto de Pedraforca ever been included? The Vuelta always likes to shake things up, would be ideal for them.
 
icefire said:
I don't see any link between the race being in March and not having any decent climb. It's just the current trend in 1-week stage races. Catalunya only has some serious climbs if Andorra pays for a stage finish, as it happened last year.

Just for the curious, a few years ago Catalunya had two stage races each year: Volta a Catalunya and the Setmana Catalana. The latter was held in late March and in their last edition (2005) they had a mountain top finish at Coll de Pal (2100 m or ~7000 ft)

Enjoy the video ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTtrUjWvAJE

I saw it in 2005 and remember it well. The exception, rather than the norm. Stemana went bust. Catalunya is struggling to finance itself. The UCI moving it for the third time in a few years, into March, isn't going to help.

When in May and June, it was usually very mountainous, serving as a hard Tour warm up.
Others have noted this, too.
 
May 6, 2009
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Before the Vuelta moved to August/September, didn't Catalunua used to take that place? I guess that is why they would be annoyed that Armstrong and Contador are not racing, say what you like about Lance, but he would of bought in some much needed publicity and maybe even more sponsors.
 
Sep 25, 2009
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so for the gc we have plenty of names (in no particular predictive order): basso, kloeden, leipheimer, menchov, ll sanchez, wiggins, kreuziger, t.martin, karpets, a. schlock, sastre. who did I miss ?.. oh, voigt too and may be just may be pereiro.


looks like a very solid collection for any gt .
just for the hell of it im going to pick: ll sanchez, wiggins, basso.
 
Sep 21, 2009
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craig1985 said:
On a side note, why hasn't the Alto de Pedraforca ever been included? The Vuelta always likes to shake things up, would be ideal for them.

The real thing is Pradell, not Pedraforca, but they are just 5km apart from each other. Pradell is in a road that has been asphalted only recently (5 or 6 years ago), but they know about it. Maybe nobody is willing to pay for a stage finish in the area. Just look at the 3rd stage of Volta Catalunya: the finish is more than 60km from Pedraforca. Or it may just be the current trend to have 'mountain' stages with a single MTF.
 
Jun 22, 2009
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issoisso said:
This is by a very long margin the worst course I've ever seen for this race.

Where are the two usual mountain finishes?
First the Tour de Suisse, now this. What cool race are they going to neuter next?

bah

+1

I shant be staying up to watch this race.
 
May 25, 2009
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TourOfSardinia said:
Could this be Basso v. Wiggins duel on this hills with a touch of Menchov perhaps?

With no mountain top finishes and only a really short time trial, I don't think the Grand Tour GC types will do particularly well.
 

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