It's time for the 105th edition of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - a hilly and mountainous week-long WT race which has in the past been won by some true legends - Roglic, Pogacar, Higuita, Yates, Lopez, ValVerde, Quintana, Porte, Rodriguez, and so on and so forth.
This year the race has the following profiles in the peloton according to PCS:
- VINGEGAARD Jonas
- EVENEPOEL Remco
- ALMEIDA João
- PIDCOCK Thomas
- VINE Jay
- ONLEY Oscar
- MCNULTY Brandon
- CICCONE Giulio
- MARTINEZ Lenny
- GALL Felix
Which is... a weird sort of list, since it ignores Lipowitz, Skjelmose, Riccitello, Mas, Gaudu, and countless other strong riders.
The big question will of course be - will Vingegaard crush Evenepoel, Pidcock, and Almeida like he did to the competition in Paris-Nice? Surely this field is stronger?
All of that will be answered in the coming days!
- 23/03: Stage 1 — Sant Feliu de Guíxols to Sant Feliu de Guíxols
- 24/03: Stage 2 — Figueres to Banyoles
- 25/03: Stage 3 — Mont-roig del Camp to Vila-seca
- 26/03: Stage 4 — Mataró to Vallter
- 27/03: Stage 5 — La Seu d'Urgell to La Molina/Coll de Pal
- 28/03: Stage 6 — Berga to Queralt
- 29/03: Stage 7 — Barcelona to Barcelona
It's been almost a year since Cort showed any sort of form, but he's been consistently winning for 10 years now at WT level, which is impressive. I personally thought he was done for.
I've thought so for several years, and yet, every season there is at least one unexpected success. 👍