While barely eight days separate the respective finishes of Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico last Sunday and the start of the Volta a Catalunya next week, March's three WorldTour stage races have a very different feel. Paris-Nice and Tirreno tend to form part of a plotline leading towards Milan-San Remo and then the northern Classics and while any Grand Tour candidates participating in either stage race can have a significant effect on results (i.e. win), in terms of pure numbers, normally they remain in a minority.
Catalunya, on the other hand, is the first major European stage race of the season where a considerable number of top GC names annually emerge to test their form. This year alone and almost without anybody noticing, for example, in its lineup, Catalunya manages to boast two Tour de France winners, (Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal), four riders with a Giro d'Italia in their palmarès (Bernal, Primož Roglič, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Nairo Quintana) and four who can say the same about the Vuelta a España (Roglič, Simon Yates, Quintana and Sepp Kuss). Considering neither Tadej Pogačar, a three-time Tour winner and last year's Volta champion nor Jonas Vingegaard - set to be the top favourite in Pogačar's stead this time round but finally a late withdrawal - are present, that's some achievement.
At a time of year cycling's main fan favourite is the Classics, why does Catalunya remain so quietly popular for the GC racers? For one thing every season, Catalunya offers the peloton the first series of incursions of the year into the Pyrenees, its back-to-back full-blown mountain stages often finishing close to 2,000 metres above sea level. But the race's wildly varying terrain in general (although perhaps not the occasionally very treacherous weather that can affect Catalunya) is another key appeal.
Riders can find themselves tackling the rolling countryside and coastlines of central and eastern Catalunya to the flatlands and little-known sierras of the south, not to mention the mountains which stalk from one end to the other of Catalunyas' northern border with France and Andorra. All of which are excellent form tests, but yet another draw is the prestige of the event itself: Catalunya is the second oldest stage race in the world after the Giro d'Italia and has a long list of major names among its palmarès, most recently Pogačar but also Indurain, Anquetil and Merckx.
It's true that unlike the Dauphiné or the Tour of the Alps, say, Catalunya is still distant enough from the major Grand Tours for the peloton to have a slightly amorphous feel. Yet despite the one-size-fits-all feel of the bunch, the Volta a Catalunya unfailingly constitutes a serious test of form for anybody looking for a mid-spring reference point for either May or July.
It's true that one of its two usual Pyrenean summits has been removed this year. But the first key challenge of La Molina, a notoriously irregular climb concluding in a ski station remains in place on stage 3, and will instantly see gaps emerging amongst the leading favourites.
The welcome return of the Cat.1 ascent to Montserrat and its thousand-year-old monastery for the first time since Laurent Jalabert ripped the race apart there in 1995 on stage 4 will be another major test this March. But for the second year running, the Volta will be won for certain and lost on the ultra-hard ascent to Queralt, on stage 6, preceded by the usual combination of the climbs of Pradell (HC) and Isidre (Cat.1).
It's not just the riders that give the Volta its enduring appeal either, there's the public as well, with Montjuic's final stage always seeing famously big crowds taking to the roadsides. Then on Saturday as well, thousands of fans from the nearby town of Berga - a Catalan cycling stronghold less famous than the town of Girona, but with an impressive number of clubs and amateur riders all the same - are expected to line the ultra-mountainous route, too, prior to the traditional showdown circuit race in central Barcelona 24 hours later.
Cyclingnews takes a closer look at those chasing victory in Catalunya next week.
Primož Roglič (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)
The outright winner of Catalunya in 2023, interest in how Roglič performs in the Volta is bound to be very high for multiple reasons.
Most importantly, Roglič started his season in a rather perfunctory fashion at the Volta ao Algarve, where he'd already said in the winter he was not going to be a GC challenger, and the 35-year-old certainly kept his word, trailing his way anonymously to eighth overall.
In the Volta, however, given it's his only race before the Giro d'Italia, the seven-day Catalan event becomes a crucial reference point for May, both for Roglič, his team and his upcoming rivals in the corsa rosa, and even in the more distant Tour de France.
Furthermore, history suggests that a good Roglič in March can easily become a great Roglič two months later. When Roglič won in Italy in 2023, he had also captured the Volta five weeks earlier, as well as two stage wins, in the process seeing off the likes of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), another key contender in the Giro that year.
The bonus second battle proved crucial in that year's outcome - Roglič took 43 to Evenepoel's 41 - and even if there are more steep, long final climbs in the 2025 Volta route compared to when he conquered the Volta in 2023, the Slovenian veteran has long proved a past master in outsprinting his rivals at summit finishes. As recently as stage 4 in the Vuelta last year at Pico Villuercas, for example, Roglič remained the best bar none at that sort of high-speed mountaintop battle. And we all know who ended up winning that race.
So on paper, at least, and until proven otherwise, Roglič starts the 2025 Volta a Catalunya as the rider to beat.
Richard Carapaz (EF Education-Easy Post)
Barring some brief, probing attacks in Tirreno-Adriatico, there's been precious little of note in Richard Carapaz's season so far this year, with an anonymous 16th place in Milan-Turin on Wednesday his most recent result. But like so many other GC stars, the real tests of the year are yet to come, and Catalunya could well be where Carapaz starts to fire on at least a majority of cylinders for the first time in 2025.
When Carapaz does begin to start making his presence felt, though, he's always both a hugely entertaining and very successful rider- and quite apart from his stunning Alpine stage win in last year's Tour as well as the victory in the polka-dot classification, the Volta itself has proof of that in its not so recent past.
In 2022, Carapaz and fellow South American Sergio Higuita turned in one of the most memorable days of racing in recent Volta history, launching a two-rider long-distance ambush on seemingly innocuous rolling terrain on leader Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). Carapaz took the stage win and second overall - his only Volta podium finish to date - and Higuita the overall.
Just as for Roglič, Catalunya will be a key testing ground for Carapaz en route to a daunting Giro-Tour double. But while for Roglič the Volta is something of a voyage in the dark, given his attacks in Tirreno, it appears that Carapaz is already on an upward curve. A week's hard racing in Catalunya, one way or another, will give fans and riders a lot more evidence on that particular question.
Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers)
Had he raced the Volta a Catalunya, Jonas Vingegaard wouldn't have been the only past Tour de France winner on the comeback trail in the race this year. Following his bad crash and fractured collarbone in the Clásica Jaén, Egan Bernal is also aiming to hit the heights again in the Volta, and after an ultra-fast recovery from his crash, losing just three days' training, he could well be in excellent form.
Encouragingly, prior to his accident in Andalucia, Bernal was already hitting new heights this season following his life-threatening training accident early in 2022. In early February, he took his first wins in nearly four years in the Colombian National Championships road race and time trial, the best indication yet this season he is recovering to his pre-2022 condition.
Furthermore, in 2024 Bernal had already passed another major comeback milestone in, as it happened, Catalunya. The Volta was where Bernal clinched his first WorldTour stage racing podium since the 2022 crash, placing third behind Pogačar and Mikel Landa (Soudal-QuickStep). So for all Bernal is preaching caution and saying that despite his numbers being good, it's only racing that counts, the chances of a repeat top-flight performance in the Volta are surely not small.
Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
Fifth in 2022, his sole Volta a Catalunya participation to date, three years on Juan Ayuso is in a very different place. While he remains, at 22, one of Spain's - and cycling's - most brilliant up-and-coming racers, Ayuso's recent series of wins in Tirreno-Adriatico, Laguiglea and Faun Drome Classic also make him the most prolifically successful racer in March and have even [prior to San Remo at least] made him the rider with most UCI points scored this season.
Ayuso therefore starts Catalunya looking to take his second WorldTour stage race in three weeks, and where he'll be looking to consolidate his rise in stature in the unofficial GC rider ranking - although Pogačar remains undisputed leader, we hasten to add - inside UAE Team Emirates as well. Objective number three will be to compare his form against some other top Giro d'Italia favourites, including his teammate and former Catalunya winner Adam Yates.
"Tirreno gave me extra confidence for the Giro," Ayuso said after becoming the fifth Spanish rider ever to win the race, and the first since Alberto Contador - also, as it happens, the most recent Spanish winner of the Giro d'Italia. But while the Volta will likely yet be easier, weather-wise, than the rain-blighted 2025 edition of Tirreno, the climbing challenges in Catalunya, as well as the GC rivals, are far greater. Should Ayuso succeed on home soil where he left off in Italy ten days ago, then, his confidence will arguably be even greater.
Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates-XRG)
For several of the top favourites taking part in the Volta a Catalunya, the race remains close to unknown territory - Roglič and Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) have only raced it twice before, Ayuso once. Adam Yates, on the other hand, already has a victory, a second and a fourth place overall in his palmarès in Catalunya, and 2025 will be his seventh participation. Add in a deep history of week-long WorldTour stage racing across the board, with 2024 his most consistently successful season to date, and Yates could be a formidable contender in this year's Volta.
On the downside, illness reportedly sidelined Yates in Tirreno-Adriatico, even while his teammate Ayuso was soaring to overall victory. But Yates' repeat triumph in the Tour of Oman in February is a promising indication of underlying good shape, and after a fourth place in Milan-Turin earlier this week behind teammate Isaac Del Toro, he'll be looking to push the bar a lot higher again in the Volta.
Three summit finishes of increasing difficulty such as those in the Volta are exactly the kind of challenge he relishes the most, too. But the biggest issue - just as in the Giro - may be just how well Yates and Ayuso handle the question of joint GC leadership.
Simon Yates (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Seven years have come and gone since Simon Yates took his best-ever result in the Volta a Catalunya, powering home solo in the Montjuic Park finish on the last day to clinch a stage win and fourth place overall. But after moving to Visma-Lease a Bike over the winter, it'll be intriguing to see how Yates fares in a race that looks all but tailor-made to suit his strengths.
Yates' performance in Tirreno-Adriatico was not as memorable as in recent years, either, such as when he took a stage win and the overall back in 2020. Yet for all Yates doesn't have the same stunning track record in Catalunya as his brother Adam, just like Adam he'll also be wanting to use the Volta as a test bed for his upcoming goals in the Giro d'Italia, and beyond that the Tour de France.
Furthermore, in the absence of Jonas Vingegaard, the 2020 edition of Catalunya could well offer more opportunities for Yates to shine. As yet he hasn't had a chance to take a win in his new team colours at Visma, but be it a stage victory or something bigger, the Volta could well be where he sets the record straight, seven years on from his lone triumph in Montjuic.
Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Fun fact: despite the fact that American climber Sepp Kuss lives in neighbouring Andorra, is a hugely popular figure amongst cycling fans in Catalunya, knows many of the Volta climbs like the back of his hand, and is a world-class mountain specialist, he's never performed well in his 'home' race.
Twelfth in 2021 is his best result to date in the Volta, and while he notched up a fifth place at Port Ainé's summit finish last year, he ended up slumping to 13th overall.
The key question for Kuss, just as it is for teammate Simon Yates, is how Visma-Lease a Bike now rethink their strategy following leader Vingegaard's recent announcement he won't be starting. Assuming they just go for stage wins, Kuss would - like Yates - definitely be in the market, but when it comes to which of the two enjoys protected rider status, and if they have their eyes on a bigger prize, a lot will depend on how the two climbers fare on the first summit finish of the race at La Molina on stage 3.
Nairo Quintana (Movistar)
When Nairo Quintana made the briefest of mountain attacks on stage 5 of Tirreno-Adriatico, where once it could have set the entire overall battle alight, instead it barely sparked a ripple in the momentum of the race.
However, his attack did serve as a reminder that in mountainous terrain where he was once the dominating force - in Tirreno, for example, he's won it twice - for the last couple of years, the Colombian has been a shadow of his former GC self. But even if Quintana does only get slightly involved in the climbing action during this year's Volta, it's always worth remembering the Movistar man is the most decorated Volta a Catalunya rider to be taking part in this year's edition, and that he still retains a more than notable position in the race's history.
The King of the Mountains in his first ever participation, back when he was riding for Colombia es Pasión in 2011 before he joined Movistar, in the Volta Quintana then proceeded to turn in one top-level performance after another. The overall winner in 2016, and second in 2018, Quintana also has no less than three further fourth places on GC in his Catalunya palmares, most recently in 2022, as well as victory in the toughest mountain stage in 2013.
This year, just as in 2024, he'll almost certainly be riding the Volta as a climbing domestique de luxe for Movistar leader Enric Mas, fifth overall last year and a potential outsider for a podium finish in 2025. But come what may, Quintana's achievements in his own right in the Volta are worth keeping in mind, too.
Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious)
Assuming Santiago Buitrago has recovered enough from his Paris-Nice crashout and injuries to start, he could well be one of the biggest overall challengers.
Second in the Tour des Alpes-Maritimes and the winner of the Volta a Valencia this season, the Colombian climber does not have a great track record in Catalunya. But he has made a notable start to the 2025 season, and the combination of multiple summit finishes and no time trial in Catalunya will suit the 25-year-old mountain specialist down to the ground.
If Buitrago is a cycling history fan, he'll have maybe noticed and taken encouragement from the fact that Colombia has an excellent track record in the Volta, too. Recent winners from his country include Sergio Higuita (2022), Miguel Angel López (2019) and Quintana (2016): could Buitrago become Colombia's fourth Volta champion in less than ten years?
