Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2024 (March 18-24)

[Devil's Elbow]

The best route I can remember this race having, but will it even matter with Pogacar there in an otherwise slightly underwhelming field?

Also, get ready to miss a whole bunch of action because the broadcasts are quite possibly the shortest of any WT stage race. The hardest climb of the race, Coll de Pradell, will be completed mostly, if not entirely, off-camera.

Startlist

Schedule

Date	Stage	Start	Broadcast start	ETA
Monday, March 18	1	12:25	15:00	16:21 - 16:44
Tuesday, March 19	2	11:50	15:00	16:21 - 16:49
Wednesday, March 20	3	11:50	15:00	16:21 - 16:49
Thursday, March 21	4	12:40	15:00	16:25 - 16:46
Friday, March 22	5	13:25	15:55	17:18 - 17:39
Saturday, March 23	6	12:30	15:00	16:21 - 16:45
Sunday, March 24	7	10:30	12:25	13:48 - 14:07

The route

Stage 1: Sant Feliu de Guíxols - Sant Feliu de Guíxols, 173.9k

For the fourth time in five editions, the race heads to Sant Feliu de Guíxols. This finish was won by Michael Matthews in both 2019 and 2022 (the latter stage is forever tainted by what happened to Colbrelli right after the finish), but last year it was Roglic who beat Evenepoel in a big sprint, setting the scene for the rest of that edition. This year, they enter town from the opposite side, so only the final kilometre is the same.

Spoiler: Climbs

Romanyà de la Selva (the uncategorised one early on)

Alt de la Ganga

Alt dels Angels (until the junction to Girona right near the end)

Alt de Sant Grau

La Dona Espenyada (main uncategorised climb between the final KOM and the finish)
Link (can’t load images from Climbfinder anymore for some reason)

Finish

Stage 2: Mataró - Vallter / Setcases, 186.5k

The mountains start really early this time round, with a return to Vallter 2000. It’s a regular MTF here, most recently seen just last year when Giulio Ciccone surprised us all by beating Roglic and Evenepoel in a virtually identical stage.

Spoiler: Climbs

Coll de Caselles (the long, uncategorised drag out of Banyoles)

Coll de Coubet (KOM there, but ridden in full):

Vallter 2000:

Stage 3: Sant Joan de les Abdesses - Port Ainé, 176.7k

Back-to-back big MTFs in the first half of the race? You’d better believe it. This one was last seen in 2021, when Esteban Chaves took his (currently) final non-NC win.

Spoiler: Climbs

Port de Toses

Port de Cantó

Port Ainé

Stage 4: Sort - Lleida, 169.0k
A breather. The sprint is the slight uphill seen in every Lleida stage, much easier than the Stage 1 finish.

Spoiler: Climbs

Port d’Ager
Link

Stage 5: Altafulla - Viladecans The Style Outlets, 167.3k
The Sponsored Content Stage. The final climb is the one where Roglic and Evenepoel broke away last year before Roglic refusing to pull caused things to come back together for a sprint won by Kaden Groves.

Spoiler: Climbs

Coll de Les Ventoses

Alt Sant Llorenç d’Hortons

Alt de la Creu d’Aragall

(Stages 6 and 7 in the next post)

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Stage 6: Berga - Queralt, 154.7k

The best stage they’ve ever come up with.

Spoiler: Climbs

Coll de la Batallola

Collet de Cal Ros (first 10k only)

Coll de Pradell

Collada de Sant Isidre

Queralt (they leave the profile after 1.6k for a steeper route, rejoining it at 5.9k - I’ll see if I can make a profile of the route they take)

Stage 7: Barcelona - Barcelona, 145.3k

The traditional finish.

Spoiler: Climbs

Coll de la Creu d’Ordal

Final circuit:

 

[DNP-Old]

The first of many prophecies spoken by our Lord and Saviour, our Mou will come to fruition. This race marks the beginning of the slow killing of The Fisherman.

 

[RobertCrawley]

UAE is bringing the A team to this one.

 

[Salvarani]

UAE is bringing the A team to this one.

I would still rate A. Yates and Majka to be a part of an "A-team" for them.

Good squad though for this race. Depending on the form of guys like Vine (sick in P-N?), Almeida, Sivakov, Soler... there is not so much documented form here. A few of them will have to show more than they have so far this season.

Grosschartner was very good in P-N. Novak was good yesterday in MSR. The latter will probably only support the team in the beginning of the stages of this race.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Tuesday and Wednesday are forecasted to be warm. It would be almost unfair to other riders if they had to race Pog in cold Pyrenean conditions! Not that it will be easy for them against new, upgraded Pog.

 

[Red Rick]

Does he nuke Col de Pradell or does he wait for Kuss to attack out of expedience before getting bored and just dropping Kuss afterwards

 

[KZD]

Curious to see how many stages will Pogačar win and which kind of w/kg will he produce.

My guess is that he will win three stages plus the overall and that he will reach 6.5w/kg on Vallter.

Lenny Martinez to be the closest rider to him in the overall.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Does he nuke Col de Pradell or does he wait for Kuss to attack out of expedience before getting bored and just dropping Kuss afterwards

By Prandell stage he will have got enough of gap to race defensively and play with his rivals. If he's bored then he might do a 60-km solo indeed.

 

[Red Rick]

Curious to see how many stages will Pogačar win and which kind of w/kg will he produce.

My guess is that he will win three stages plus the overall and that he will at least reach 6.5w/kg on Vallter.

Lenny Martinez to be the closest rider to him in the overall.

Could win 5 stages.

More realistically, he's equal favorite with Lenny Martinez, they both won a small one day race in Italy solo this year, but I give him the benefit of the doubt so he's the slight favorite to me.

 

[Samamba]

Route is great. not sure whey they changed the final of the first race tho. It was already pretty sketchy but now you just get a full on techincal descent towards the last km. Pretty interesting to watch but I don't wanna be a rider battling for the win or not trying too lose seconds there.

UAE team is pretty insane. Pogacar should already win 1st stage.

Annoying that Van Eetvelt is out, would've liked to see what he can do in this field.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Does he nuke Col de Pradell or does he wait for Kuss to attack out of expedience before getting bored and just dropping Kuss afterwards

Pradell is steep enough.

But it's not the last climb.

So studies are inconclusive.

 

[Red Rick]

Pradell is steep enough.

But it's not the last climb.

So studies are inconclusive.

Kuss sitting threateningly in 5th position versus Pogacar in full yolo mode. Immovable object meets unstappable force.

 

[search]

Alt de Sant Grau

is this the correct profile? It looks significantly harder on la-flamme-rouge

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Kuss sitting threateningly in 5th position versus Pogacar in full yolo mode. Immovable object meets unstappable force.

Mighty Sepp needs a GT or two to ride himself into form. He will get crushed by early-season Teddy.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

is this the correct profile? It looks significantly harder on la-flamme-rouge

LFR has the opposite side, the one they descend. Here's the same climb from Cyclingcols from the other side:

Look at the shape of the climb and descent on the profile and you'll see Devil's Elbow has the right side, LFR the wrong one.

 

[KZD]

Could win 5 stages.

More realistically, he's equal favorite with Lenny Martinez, they both won a small one day race in Italy solo this year, but I give him the benefit of the doubt so he's the slight favorite to me.

I think he could actually win all stages apart from stage 4, but will probably take it easy on some of the days.

Almeida and Uijtdebroeks should start showing better legs in this race.

 

[search]

LFR has the opposite side, the one they descend. Here's the same climb from Cyclingcols from the other side:

Look at the shape of the climb and descent on the profile and you'll see Devil's Elbow has the right side, LFR the wrong one.

ah, thanks, looks like they made a mistake indeed. The numbers on the PCS profile are incorrect as well then.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

is this the correct profile? It looks significantly harder on la-flamme-rouge

Considering that the roadbook has it as 7.2k at 3.5%, I think LFR are, as too often, wrong.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Pogi will win, the question is by how much. I hope he keeps his freshness before the Giro-Tour and if that means riding in a more conservative way, I hope he just attacks in the last 4/5 km.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Pog to win overall, 4 stages, and KOM and point classifications.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Movistar's team is just wall-to-wall cycling, Nairoman is back.


Movistar Team (WT)

• 101MAS Enric
• 102RUBIO Einer
• 103GARCÍA CORTINA Iván
• 104SOSA Iván Ramiro
• 105ROMO Javier
• 106ARCAS Jorge
• 107QUINTANA Nairo

 

[RedheadDane]

Pog to win overall, 4 stages, and KOM and point classifications.

He'll even make himself a year younger so he can win the BYR competition.
And retroactively change his birth-place to Catalunya, so he can win the Best Catalan Rider competition.

 

[ice&fire]

Does he nuke Col de Pradell or does he wait for Kuss to attack out of expedience before getting bored and just dropping Kuss afterwards

Here's a picture (at the top right) of the place where he will attack:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1768271609012330511

View: https://twitter.com/mycolsapp/status/1768271609012330511

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Honestly one of the best stage races of the year and no ITT. Looking forward to the great fight for second.

Behind Landa