2013 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya – Preview

Monday will see the start of Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, a feisty WorldTour stage race in Spain. The race is from 18th to 24th March. Last year’s race was won by Michael Albasini, thanks to the wins on Stage 1 and Stage 2. He was joined on the podium by Samuel Sanchez and Jurgen Van den Broeck. The 2012 edition will be remembered for it’s controversial queen stage which included the climb of Port-Ainé. After the final climb was snowed out, the race organizers decided to shorten the stage which was won by Janez Brajkovic but no GC time was counted.

The 2013 edition has slightly difficult parcours than last year. All the seven stages have lumpy terrain. The third stage finishes on Vallter 2000 after a 12 km long climb with an average gradient of 7.8%. The next day’s queen stage is 218km long, with the finish on Port Ainé. The brutal stage has five climbs with the last two climbs of hors categorie. The final stage is a circuit in Barcelona with the finish on Alto de Montjuïc. In Barcelona 8 local laps will be ridden, in which each time the Montjuïc has to be climbed.

It will be an exciting GC battle as many big names will duke it out on the hilly parcours. The likes of Tour winner Bradley Wiggins, Giro winner Ryder Hesjedal, Jurgen Van den Broeck, Alejandro Valverde, Joaquim Rodriguez and Michele Scarponi are expected to start. These last three riders won the Tour of Catalunya in 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively.

Apart from the GC contenders, other notable grimpeurs who could be up there for stage victories are Kenny Elissonde & Thibaut Pinot (FDJ), Nairo Quintana & Eros Capecchi (MOV), Rafal Majka (TST), Thomas De Gendt (VCD), Igor Anton & Mikel Nieve (EUS).

Provisional startlists. Not all rosters have been announced. This will be updated as more information is released.

AG2R La Mondiale
GASTAUER Ben
CHEREL Mikael
NOCENTINI Rinaldo
BONNAFOND Guillaume

Argos-Shimano
AHLSTRAND Jonas
CLARKE William
DAMUSEAU Thomas
GRETSCH Patrick
PARISIEN Francois
PETERSON Tom
PREIDLER Georg
TIMMER Albert

Pro Team Astana
BRAJKOVIC Janez
HUFFMAN Evan

Blanco Pro Cycling
CLEMENT Stef
HOFLAND Moreno
GESINK Robert
KRUIJSWIJK Steven
WAGNER Robert
TEN DAM Laurens
BOL Jetse
BOBRIDGE Jack

BMC Racing
BURGHARDT Marcus
CUMMINGS Stephen
EIJSSEN Yannick
KOHLER Martin
MORABITO Steve
SANTAROMITA Ivan
WARBASSE Lawrence
WYSS Danilo

Caja Rural
DOMAGALSKI Karol

Cofidis
BAGOT Yoann
LE MEVEL Christophe
EDET Nicolas
MATE Luis Angel
MOLARD Rudy
NAVARRO Daniel
POULHIES Stéphane
VALENTIN Tristan

Euskaltel-Euskadi
NIEVE Mikel
ASTARLOZA Mikel
ANTON Igor
OROZ Juan José
LANDA Mikel
MESTRE Ricardo
CHAOUFI Tarik
ABERASTURI Jon

FDJ
VAUGRENARD Benoit
ELISSONDE Kenny
PINOT Thibaut
PINEAU Cédric
CASAR Sandy
JEANNESSON Arnold
PICHON Laurent
MANGEL Laurent

Garmin-Sharp
KREDER Michel
HESJEDAL Ryder
STETINA Peter

Katusha
CARUSO Giampaolo
KOZONTCHUK Dmitry
LOSADA Alberto
MENCHOV Denis
MORENO Daniel
RODRIGUEZ Joaquim
SPILAK Simon
TROFIMOV Yuri

Lampre-Merida
NIEMIEC Przemyslaw
DURASEK Kristijan
SCARPONI Michele
LLOYD Matthew
MORI Manuele
ARIEL RICHEZE Maximiliano
STORTONI Simone

Lotto-Belisol
BULGAC Brian
DE GREEF Francis
HANSEN Adam
KAISEN Olivier
VANDEWALLE Jurgen
VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen
VAN LEIJEN Joost
WELLENS Tim

Movistar
VALVERDE Alejandro
CAPECCHI Eros
QUINTANA Nairo Alexander
ERVITI Imanol
PLAZA Ruben
KARPETS Vladimir
SZMYD Sylwester
HERRADA Jose

Omega Pharma-Quick Step
BRAMBILLA Gianluca
DEVENYNS Dries
FENN Andrew
GOLAS Michal
MEERSMAN Gianni
PAUWELS Serge
VERMOTE Julien
VERONA Carlos

Orica-GreenEdge
DAVIS Allan
LANCASTER Brett
MEIER Christian
MATTHEWS Michael
BEWLEY Sam
GERRANS Simon
MEYER Travis
SULZBERGER Wesley

RadioShack Leopard
MACHADO Tiago
ZUBELDIA Haimar
HERMANS Ben
HORNER Chris
OLIVEIRA Nelson
KISERLOVSKI Robert

Saxo-Tinkoff
KROON Karsten
CHRISTENSEN Mads
ZAUGG Oliver
ROCHE Nicolas
MAJKA Rafal
PETROV Evgeni
ANKER SORENSEN Chris
SøRENSEN Nicki

Sky Procycling
CATALDO Dario
EDMONDSON Joshua
KENNAUGH Peter
KNEES Christian
LOPEZ David
PATE Danny
URAN Rigoberto
WIGGINS Bradley

Sojasun

Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling
RUJANO José Humberto
KEIZER Martijn
NOVIKOV Nikita
LIGTHART Pim
VALLS Rafael
RUIJGH Rob
DE GENDT Thomas
MARCZYNSKI Tomasz

Stage 1

Calella -> Calella, 159 KM

Stage 2

Girona -> Banyoles, 161 KM

Stage 3

Vidreres -> Vallter 2000, 180 KM

Stage 4

Llanars (Vall de Camprodon) -> Port Ainé (Pallars Sobirà-Rialp), 218 KM

Stage 5

Rialp -> Lleida, 157 KM

Stage 6

Almacelles -> Valls, 179 KM

Stage 7

El Vendrell -> Barcelona, 122 KM