Amidst all the Spring Classics which might be happening in Europe for the time being, the Volta a Catalunya affords a possibility for the GC specialists to seize some glory throughout this somewhat sparse interval of the season for them.
However, absent from the beginning checklist are the 2 finest GC riders on this planet for the time being, defending Volta champion Pogačar is selecting as an alternative to deal with the Spring Classics, while Vingegaard has been pressured to drop out of the race late on after injuring his hand in a crash in Paris-Nice.
Their rival Remco Evenepoel can be sidelined by damage, as he’s nonetheless recovering from his crash final December, which left him with a fractured rib, shoulder blade and hand. He is predicted to make his return simply in time for the Ardennes Classics at De Brabantse Pijl.
In the Belgian’s absence, the Soudal Quick-Step squad shall be led by final 12 months’s Volta a Catalunya runner-up Mikel Landa, who believes that the facility vacuum left by the ‘huge three’ makes for a way more open and aggressive battle for the general victory on the race.
Landa, who completed runner-up in 2024 and fifth in 2023 on the Volta, has taken half in numerous races with each Vingegaard and Pogačar, and he believes that “there is a completely different form of mentality with out them.”
“When they [Vingegaard and Pogačar] are there, individuals accept second or are ready for them to interrupt open the race and for them to begin attacking,” the Soudal-Quick Step rider instructed Cyclingnews throughout the Volta countdown.
“So that basically impacts the best way the race develops. It’ll be a way more open race with out them, in all probability there will be a a pleasant battle between [Primož] Roglič and [Juan] Ayuso.”
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“Those two ought to dominate however the remainder of us might be shut behind. Even although there’s so many mountain phases, the Volta is a race that usually finally ends up being determined by only a few seconds and this 12 months may not be any completely different.”
The toughness of the Volta route is its defining attribute. Having ridden the race on six events, together with his debut participation coming in 2013 with Euskaltel-Euskadi, Landa said that “I’d say it is one of many stage races that is modified the least since I began racing.”
“When I began as a professional, it was all the time very exhausting, and really quick, and it nonetheless is. There are just about no sprinters participating, so even on the flatter phases, riders can attempt to break free.”
“There’s all the time one thing occurring. The seven days are all the time very exhausting, even the better phases usually have 2,000 or 3,000 vertical metres of climbing. So it makes for a really intense week.”
Landa himself is in encouragingly sturdy kind and is optimistic of a robust end result, having simply taken eleventh in Strade Bianche and seventh in Tirreno-Adriatico, even when he is aware of the Volta affords a lot more durable challenges than any race seen thus far this 12 months.
Futhermore, as one of many many high riders set to race each the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France this season, Landa additionally values the Volta as a reference level for the way he’ll be acting on the massive climbs in May.
“Last 12 months labored out very nicely, this 12 months I’m in fine condition too, so I’ll see if I will be near the most effective.”
“Whatever occurs, although, in weeklong stage races, it is very exhausting to search out phases with so many mountains as you get in Catalunya, with vertical climbing of 4 to 5 thousand metres some days. That’s similar to the final week of the Giro, so it is also very helpful for later.”
When it involves climbing challenges, stage 6 encompasses a formidable collection of excessive mountains in central Catalunya, ending with the class 1 ascent to Queralt, making it the hardest day within the race, simply because it was in 2024.
“It’ll be a stage for the bravest of riders,” Landa says, “I keep in mind final 12 months how nothing a lot occurred on the hardest climb [the Hors Categorie Col de Pradell – Ed.] however then within the two that adopted, Pogačar attacked and blew the race aside. But the summit end stage to Monserrat [stage 4] will have already got created GC variations as nicely.”
“Really, although, even the final stage by Montjuic within the Volta can resolve the general. There’s a primary excessive mountain stage to La Molina [stage 3] however I keep in mind in 2022 how Sergio Higuita and Richard Carapaz weren’t the strongest there or perhaps even within the race general, however they managed to show issues round utterly in a hillly stage simply earlier than the final day.”
“For me, this race is rarely over till you attain the ultimate end line.”
What additionally provides to the Volta’s depth, Landa factors out, is that for some high riders, Catalunya is their final race previous to the Giro d’Italia, so that gives an additional diploma of motivation to depart no stone unturned of their seek for optimum efficiency.
“For me personally, there’s nonetheless too far to go to the Giro begin to take a look at myself absolutely, it is not just like the time hole between the Dauphiné or Suisse, say, in comparison with the Tour de France.”
“But for riders like Roglič and Ayuso, it is their final race till Italy and in some instances they’ve not raced for some time both. So within the Volta, they are going to need to put all of it on the market.”
The Volta a Catalunya begins on Monday, with the opening stage beginning in Sant Feliu de Guíxols. The race will then traverse a lot of the area on the Mediterranean Coast earlier than the ultimate stage on the Montjuïc circuit in Barcelona subsequent Sunday.