2017 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, March 20-26, WT

[dick the quick]

Here it is - after P-N and T-A, the next opportunity to see the big GT guns in action is Volta a Catalunya.

As usual, the route is clearly preferring those who can climb, with three middle mountain stages ending after the descent, two MTFs (one easier and one harder) and usual Montjuic circuit in Barcelona on the final day. This year, the riders will have to face also a long TTT on the second day of the race.

Startlist:
http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/_Volta_Ciclista_a_Catalunya_2017_Startlist

Profiles:

Stage 1: Callela - Callela, 179 km

Stage 2: Banyoles - Banyoles, 41 km

Stage 3: Mataro - La Molina (Alp), 181 km

Stage 4: Llivia - Igualada, 194 km

Stage 5: Valls - Lo Port (Tortosa), 182 km

Stage 6: Tortosa - Reus, 190 km

Stage 7: Barcelona - Barcelona, 139 km

 

[BigMac]

Atapuma.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Lo Port is a very hard climb, but the stage itself is easy while its the other way around for La Molina. I like that there are no stages for pure sprinters, will be some good intermediate stages for complement the 2 MTFs and the long TTT

 

[Valv.Piti]

Atapuma.

To crack the top-10?

 

[LaFlorecita]

I reckon BMC, Movistar and Sky will be the fastest in the TTT, so the GC will go to Dennis, Valverde or Froome/Thomas. I think.
Valverde has the bonus second advantage.
The TTT is outrageously long. Half the length would have been more than enough.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Also, whoever scheduled the decisive stages on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday should be fired.

 

[BigMac]

Atapuma.

To crack the top-10?

I didn't see the time trial.

 

[jaylew]

Don't like TTTs, especially long ones.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Atapuma.

To crack the top-10?

I didn't see the time trial.

Lol

 

[Samamba]

Don't like TTTs, especially long ones.

A 40km ttt in a one week stage race is just ridiculous.

 

[Mr.White]

Sky vs Contador vs Bala. Too much mountains for Dennis, from BMC maybe Samu can do something

 

[Valv.Piti]

Atapuma.

To crack the top-10?

I didn't see the time trial.

That would explain it.

 

[DBotero]

Valverde Ftw! For Sky i expect Landa to finally show something here after Thomas strong Tirreno performance.
Zakarin should do better than in Paris-Nice if he wants to be a factor in Giro.

 

[Arredondo]

Thomas to demolish the field.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Who thought that TTT was a good idea?
I suspect Banyoles paid quite a bit to have "their own" stage

 

[wheresmybrakes]

I would like to see Contador attacking on the first stage maybe on the first cat 1. Hoping to gain some time for the TTT. Just to blow the race open a little at the start.

Fun and games.

 

[Red Rick]

Can somebody explain why that excuse of a mountain stage that is the Molina stage is recycled over and over and over again?

 

[Netserk]

Money.

 

[Arredondo]

I'm glad there is a proper mountain stage in it. Tortosa is a really tough climb.

Should a proper fight between the big guns.

 

[DNP-Old]

With the extremely long TTT a good GC for Manzana isn't very much a possibility, but I hope Aguirre and Reyes can show they belong on this level, especially the former. Molano as well, but there isn't much of an actual stage for sprinters here.

 

[DFA123]

Re:

Sky vs Contador vs Bala. Too much mountains for Dennis, from BMC maybe Samu can do something

Van Garderen another outside bet for BMC. I know he's been hopeless for over a year now, but he showed a few signs of returning to form in Tirreno and if he gets a minute or so advantage from the TT, he could make top 3.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I can see good reasons to experiment with a TTT like this in theory. It should force teams to pick big lumps to avoid being put out of GC contention, which should bias teams away from mountain support, which should make it much harder to strangle the hilly and mountain stages. Presumably the idea was to encourage situations where domestiques get dropped early and the GC riders can't be controlled. The problem is that this race coincides with a major cobbled classic, so most teams can't or won't send their A team of big lumps. There is a strong likelihood of huge gaps killing the GC race if one or two teams have an actually good TTT line up and just batter the rest.

 

[jaylew]

Re:

I can see good reasons to experiment with a TTT like this in theory. It should force teams to pick big lumps to avoid being put out of GC contention, which should bias teams away from mountain support, which should make it much harder to strangle the hilly and mountain stages. Presumably the idea was to encourage situations where domestiques get dropped early and the GC riders can't be controlled. The problem is that this race coincides with a major cobbled classic, so most teams can't or won't send their A team of big lumps. There is a strong likelihood of huge gaps killing the GC race if one or two teams have an actually good TTT line up and just batter the rest.

I think you're giving the organizers too much credit.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

Ben Hermans FTW

 

[Robert5091]

Look forward to exploding wheels on the TTT again - Team Sky to wheelie (a la Sagan) in unison across the finsh line
What's the weather forecast? Could have a say ...