Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2023, March 20-26

[Lequack]

Let the hype begin! This is the race that Remco will win, after coming from Tenerife where he broke every record there is. Others will race for 2nd place or lower.
It's also the race where Bernal starts his European season after beating Remco in San Juan on that one stage.

Notable GC mentions: Bernal, Evenepoel, Roglic, Carapaz, Almeida, Simon Yates, Bardet, Geraint, Landa, Vine, Plapp
Notable sprinters: Hayter, Coquard, Groves, Ulissi

Overview

www.procyclingstats.com

Official website of Volta Ciclista a Catalunya

All informations of Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2025

www.voltacatalunya.cat

Live video stream available on Eurosport/GCN.

Full startlist (not yet final):

Startlist

www.procyclingstats.com

 

[Lequack]

Profiles:

Stage 1»Sant Feliu de Guíxols›Sant Feliu de Guíxols(164.6km)

Stage 2»Mataró›Vallter(165.4km)

Stage 3»Olost›La Molina (Alp) (180.6km)

Stage 4»Llívia›Sabadell(188.2km)

Stage 5»Tortosa›Lo Port(176.6km)

Stage 6»Martorell ›Molins de Rei (183.2km)

Stage 7 (Final)»Barcelona›Barcelona(135.8km)

 

[Berniece]

Looking forward to this, first stage will put Roglic immediately in the lead

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

There can't be many WT races that only have 2 previous winners still on the World Tour.

 

[houtdffan]

Looking forward to this, first stage will put Roglic immediately in the lead

a less than 1 km climb at less than 5 percent?

I see that more for the strong sprinters

 

[Breh]

There can't be many WT races that only have 2 previous winners still on the World Tour.

TDU had just the 1, Rohan Dennis.
Pais Vasco, Romandie and Roubaix all have three I think.
MSR and Klasika both have 8. But Klasika has both Evenepoel and LuLu Sanchez winning twice.

Luis Leon barely edging out Cavendish for earliest WT-race winner, stages not included.

 

[Samamba]

If Lanterne Rouge is correct about the parcours, the stage 1 final is unnecessarily dangerous. With what probably will be a close to full peloton they will be going from pretty wide roads right into a 2m wide small little street on tiles with 1km to go to come out of it onto a somewhat wide road again with 800m to go. They can literally just follow the wide road and have a safe bunch sprint but they choose to do this.

I don't get it that the UCI lets stuff like this happen.

 

[Red Rick]

If Lanterne Rouge is correct about the parcours, the stage 1 final is unnecessarily dangerous. With what probably will be a close to full peloton they will be going from pretty wide roads right into a 2m wide small little street on tiles with 1km to go to come out of it onto a somewhat wide road again with 800m to go. They can literally just follow the wide road and have a safe bunch sprint but they choose to do this.

I don't get it that the UCI lets stuff like this happen.

Same finish as last year. It was pretty dangerous IIRC.

 

[Samamba]

Same finish as last year. It was pretty dangerous IIRC.

Oh wait I remember the fuss about that finish now lmao.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

TDU had just the 1, Rohan Dennis.

Daryl Impey is still going (as is Vine, but I guess that's why you said 'had')

But In January, there will only be one previous winner still active for the TDU.

Edit: D'oh, Impey is at Israel-Premier, therefore not WT.

Another edit: but LLS is also a winner there, and has not (afaik) announced his retirement yet.

 

[Nick2413]

Wait all those big names are doing this in addition to Remco? I don’t think it’s a sure thing for him at all.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Should serve as a great prep race for Giro.

 

[Sciatic]

Wait all those big names are doing this in addition to Remco? I don’t think it’s a sure thing for him at all.

Not many decisive climbs for the elite climbers to take advantage of their strengths. If Remco gets away on one of the more rolling stages I think he will get all the time he needs. Nice to see such a good field.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Wait all those big names are doing this in addition to Remco? I don’t think it’s a sure thing for him at all.

Of course it isn't. There is also no TT, yet there are boniseconds. So in order for him to win, he actually has to drop his opponents (or at least a number of guys who can beat him in a sprint). It's just something Lequack likes to do, exaggerate the chances of the biggest favourite or the most hyped rider, as if the rest should be happy to get on the podium just to be able to ask for his autograph. I think he means it to be tongue in cheek.

 

[Berniece]

a less than 1 km climb at less than 5 percent?

I see that more for the strong sprinters

I merely checked out the profile of the whole stage not the actual finish. My bad

 

[DNP-Old]

a less than 1 km climb at less than 5 percent?

I see that more for the strong sprinters

Corbin Strong will smoke everyone.

 

[Red Rick]

a less than 1 km climb at less than 5 percent?

I see that more for the strong sprinters

Catalunya usually has a terrible sprinting field though. I can certainly see Rog getting top 3 here.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

If Remco wants to win this race then Tortosa is the place to do it. Steep unipuerto climbs about 20-30 minutes long is where his w/kg seems most impressive. He can excel there even if he's not ready yet for a 3-week race. Obviously he can try some crazy solo in the last stage as well. I'm curious how Primoz will fare against Remco. He'll win bonuses here and there but I'm not sure if at this stage of his preparations he's able to stay with the Belgian during those w/kg fests.

 

[search]

Catalunya usually has a terrible sprinting field though. I can certainly see Rog getting top 3 here.

yeah, absolutely, and half the field will get dropped on the climb anyway. Last year guys like Pacher and Higuita finished top 5 in that stage - Roglic winning it would be no surprise.

 

[BigCoward]

Is there likely to be a better field/route for a one week stage race this year?

 

[Strawberry_Jams]

Bernal, Hayter and Thomas. Ineos following their registered nation in being the 'sick man of europe'

 

[Red Rick]

Is there likely to be a better field/route for a one week stage race this year?

Deeper field? Probably not.

But Paris Nice had both the top dogs of the Tour de France, even if Vingegaard wasn't exactly flying.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Unless Roglič has made an improvement from Tirreno, Masnada's Belgian protégé will destroy him on the climbs i think

 

[BR2]

Great field, I really love this startlist. Especially excited how my new must-support-rider Carapaz will do in his first race of the season...

 

[CyclistAbi]

Around a month back, when i first visited their home page, it was all about superstar. Three days to go and now i guess at least a JV jersey gets mentioned. An improvement. For more i guess the race will need to actually start.