Volta a Catalunya

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Template other The Volta a Catalunya (; Tour of Catalonia, Template:Langx) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain.

It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of the Basque Country. The race has had several different calendar dates, having been previously run in September, June and May. Since 2010 it has been on the calendar in late March as part of the UCI World Tour.

Raced over seven days, it covers the autonomous community of Catalonia in Northeast Spain and contains one or more stages in the mountain region of the Pyrenees. The race traditionally finishes with a stage in Barcelona, Catalonia's capital, on a circuit with the famous Montjuïc climb and park.

First held in 1911, the Volta a Catalunya is the fourth-oldest still-existing cycling stage race in the world. Only the Tour de France (1903), the Tour of Belgium (1908) and the Giro d'Italia (1909) are older. It was the second cycling event organized on the Iberian Peninsula, after the amateur and sub-23 race Volta a Tarragona (1908), also held in Catalonia but no longer on the calendar. Catalan cycling icon Mariano Cañardo won the race seven times in the 1920s and 1930s, setting an unsurpassed record.

In 2018, the one-day women's competition reVolta was organised on the same day of the last men's stage. In 2024, the reVolta was replaced by a women's stage race, which is currently a category 2.1 UCI event.

History

The pioneering days

File:Jersey green lines volta.svg

The traditional white jersey with the three green stripes of the leader of the Volta, tea the origen in the equipment of the Unió Esportiva Sants.

The Volta a Catalunya was created in 1911 by cycling journalist Miquel Arteman, editor of Barcelona-based sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo. Arteman partnered with Narcisse Masferrer, president of Spanish Cycling Union, and Jaume Grau, founder and owner of El Mundo Deportivo.

File:Primera sortida Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (1911).jpg

Start of the first Volta a Catalunya in Barcelona, on 6 January 1911.

The first edition was held from 6 to 8 January 1911. 43 riders signed up but only 34 started on Barcelona's Plaça de Sarrià. The first stage was run from Barcelona to Tarragona at 97 km, the second from Tarragona to Lleida at 111 km and the final 157 km stage from Lleida back to Barcelona, totaling 363 km. 22 riders finished the race on the Velodrome di Sants. Catalan rider Seabastià Masdeu won the first and third stages and became the first overall winner. The winner's average speed was 23 km/h.

The Club Deportivo Barcelona, presided by Miquel Arteman, took on the race organization in 1912 and 1913. The event was still organized on a three-stage format and amassed large numbers of spectators along the largely unpaved roads. Local Catalan riders Josép Magdalena and Juan Martí won the second and third editions, respectively. After 1913, the Volta a Catalunya was suspended because of World War I; it was reprised in 1920, but was discontinued again over the next two years because of the chaotic return of the race.

Revival and Spanish Civil War

File:Mariano Canardo.JPG

Mariano Cañardo won the race a record seven times in the 1920s and 1930s.

The race was revived in 1923 for its fifth edition. The organization was taken over by the Unión Deportiva de Sants, which also supported Barcelona football teams. The race grew to a one-week event and gained prestige fast. It became a fixture on the calendar, attracting more foreign participants, mainly from France and Italy. The 1920s and 1930s became the era of Catalan cycling icon Mariano Cañardo, who became the leading figure of the Volta a Catalunya with seven victories.

During the Spanish Civil War, the race had its last interruptions in 1937 and 1938, hampering Cañardo's winning streak. After the civil war, World War II broke out in the rest of Europe and, while Catalonia was war-ridden and despite lacking foreign participants, the race was at the peak of its popularity and considered a symbol of Catalan sports culture. In 1945, marking the event's 25th edition, the Volta a Catalunya was exceptionally run over two weeks, before returning to its seven-day format the next year.

Modern era

Over the years, some of cycling's greatest riders have won the race. Miguel Poblet won the Volta twice in the 1950s, Jacques Anquetil in 1967, Eddy Merckx in 1968, Luis Ocaña in 1971, Felice Gimondi in 1972, Francesco Moser in 1978, and Sean Kelly in 1984 and 1986. Miguel Induráin, Spanish cycling icon of the modern era, won the race three times in the early 1990s. Colombian Álvaro Mejía became the first non-European winner in 1993.

From 1941 until 1994, the race was held in September. When UCI revolutionized the international cycling calendar in 1995, the Vuelta a España was awarded the September date and the Volta a Catalunya moved to June on the calendar. The race finished two weeks before the start of the Tour de France and the Volta became the principal preparation race for general classification protagonists. Frenchman Laurent Jalabert won the 1995 edition, preceding his fourth place in that year's Tour de France.

File:Tour de France 2016, valverde (28517038201).jpg

Spanish allround specialist Alejandro Valverde was the first rider since Miguel Induráin to win the Volta a Catalunya three times.

In 1999, 22-year old Spanish rider Manuel Sanroma died as a result of a crash during the second stage of the race. Sanroma, a promising sprinter, was the favourite to win the stage, but fell head-first onto a sidewalk at one kilometre from the finish in Vilanova i la Geltrú. Despite wearing a helmet, he succumbed to his injuries in hospital. The next day, riders decided to neutralize the stage to Barcelona.

World Tour Race

In 2005, the Volta a Catalunya was included in the inaugural UCI Pro Tour and the date was shifted to May to avoid the Tour de Suisse date. The edition was won by Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych but the move did not prove successful because the new date coincided with the Giro d'Italia.

In 2010 the race moved to late March on the calendar, the slot formerly held by another Catalan stage race, the Setmana Catalana. Joaquim Rodríguez, the foremost Catalan rider of his generation, won the race twice after the date shift. Alberto Contador, winner of the 2011 edition, was later stripped of his win after his positive doping test in the 2010 Tour de France. Italian runner-up Michele Scarponi was retroactively awarded the victory. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

File:Volta a Catalunya 2012.png

Route of the 2012 Volta a Catalunya.

Women's race

From 2018, a one-day race was held as part of the professional women's calendar under the name reVolta. This was organised on the same day of the last men's stage, using the finishing circuit in Montjuïc, Barcelona. In 2024, the reVolta was replaced by a women's stage race – Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Femenina – is currently a category 2.1 UCI event. This race is held in June, rather than alongside the men's race. Organisers have stated that they wish the race to become "one of the benchmark races on the international calendar", with media noting the event could become a warmup event for the major stage races of Tour de France Femmes and Giro d'Italia Women.

Route

Since the race's earlier date on the calendar in late March, the Volta a Catalunya has started in one of the coastal resorts on the Costa Brava with a stage through rolling terrain inland, usually suited for sprinters.

The race reaches the Pyrenees mountains in the middle part of the race, although the mountains are usually less high than before the date shift, due to frequent snowy and cold conditions at high altitude in March. One of the regular climbs in the race is the summit finish to La Molina, an 11.6 km climb with a 4.8% average gradient. The ski resort in Alp takes the peloton deep into the Pyrenees to 1694 m altitude, with the weather often a decisive factor.

The race traditionally finishes with a hilly stage in Barcelona on a circuit, featuring eight trips over the Montjuïc climb and park.

Winners

Year	Country	Rider	Team
1911
1912
1913
1914– 1919
1920
1921
1922
1923			Automoto-Hutchinson
1924			U.D. Sans
1925			U.D. Sans
1926			individual
1927			individual
1928			Elvish-Wolber
1929			F.C. Barcelona
1930			Styl
1931			individual
1932			individual
1933			Bianchi
1934			Gloria
1935			Orbea
1936			Colin–Wolber
1937
1938
1939			individual
1940			Alcyon–Dunlop
1941			individual
1942			individual
1943			F.C. Barcelona
1944			individual
1945			individual
1946			Chiclès-Tabay
1947			U.D. Sans–Alas Color–Minaco
1948			U.D. Sans-Alas Color
1949			La Perle–Hutchinson
1950			individual
1951			Arbos-Talbot
1952			Canals & Nubiola
1953			individual
1954			Bottecchia-Ursus
1955			Minaco
1956			Mobylette–Coabania
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1978
1979
1980			Teka
1981			Zor
1982			Teka
1983			Template:Cycling data KEL
1984			Skil–Sem
1985			Peugeot
1986			KAS
1987			BH
1988			Template:Cycling data GCE
1989			Caja Rural
1990			BH
1991			Template:Cycling data GCE
1992			Template:Cycling data GCE
1993			Motorola
1994			Template:Cycling data CAR
1995			Template:Cycling data ONC
1996			Template:Cycling data ONC
1997			Template:Cycling data KEL
1998			Vitalicio Seguros
1999			Template:Cycling data GCE
2000			Template:Cycling data GCE
2001			Template:Cycling data ONC
2002			Template:Cycling data DSC
2003			Costa de Almería-Paternina
2004			Template:Cycling data PHO
2005			Template:Cycling data DSC
2006			Template:Cycling data FUJ
2007			Template:Cycling data GCE
2008			Template:Cycling data XGZ
2009			Template:Cycling data GCE
2010			Template:Cycling data KAT
2011		Template:Refn	Template:Cycling data LAM
2012			Template:Cycling data GEC
2013			Template:Cycling data GRS
2014			Template:Cycling data KAT
2015			Template:Cycling data SKY
2016			Template:Cycling data MOV
2017			Template:Cycling data MOV
2018			Template:Cycling data MOV
2019			Template:Cycling data AST
2020
2021			Template:Cycling data IGD
2022			Template:Cycling data BOH
2023			Template:Cycling data TLJ
2024			Template:Cycling data UAE
2025			Template:Cycling data RBH

Multiple winners

Wins	Rider	Editions
7	Template:Flagathlete	1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1935, 1936, 1939
3	Template:Flagathlete	1988, 1991, 1992
	Template:Flagathlete	2009, 2017, 2018
2	Template:Flagathlete	1924, 1925
	Template:Flagathlete	1926, 1927
	Template:Flagathlete	1947, 1948
	Template:Flagathlete	1952, 1960
	Template:Flagathlete	1953, 1959
	Template:Flagathlete	1980, 1989
	Template:Flagathlete	1984, 1986
	Template:Flagathlete	2010, 2014
	Template:Flagathlete	2023, 2025

Wins per country

Wins	Country
60
11
10
5
3
2	Template:GBR2
1

Most stage wins

#	Rider	Stage wins
1	Template:Flagathlete	33
2	Template:Flagathlete	22
3	Template:Flagathlete	14
4	Template:Flagathlete	12
5	Template:Flagathlete	11
6	Template:Flagathlete	10
7	Template:Flagathlete	9
8	Template:Flagathlete	8
	Template:Flagathlete	8
	Template:Flagathlete	8
	Template:Flagathlete	8

Medals (1911–2023)

Only general classification results; excludes stages results.

Women's race winners

Year	Country	Rider	Team
2024			Template:Cycling data TVL women
2025			Template:Cycling data FSF

Jerseys

The leader of the overall general classification receives a white-and-green striped jersey. There are also three other classifications. The winner of the points classification (sprints) wears a white-and-orange striped jersey, a white-and-red striped jersey for the winner of the mountain classification and the jersey of the Catalonia regional cycling team is for the best classified Catalan. There is also a team classification.

See also

• Setmana Catalana de Ciclisme – men's race held in Catalunya between 1963 and 2005
• Tour of the Basque Country
• Vuelta a España
• UCI ProTour

External links

• Template:In lang
• Template:Cycling archives race