Preview: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2014

While the classics have gotten underway, the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya offers further opportunity for grand tour GC racers to build form.

It’s a sad fact that this Spanish race is often forgotten in the aftermath of the Milano-San Remo monument, but its importance is just as valid for the rest of the season.

This year the race has a high quality field that is suited to its hilly parcours and it will offer a kind of racing more akin to that we’ve seen at Paris-Nice and especially Tirreno-Adriatico.

The Contenders

Chris Froome – The 2013 Tour de France winner has returned following his back injury and will be looking to get his preparations back on track following his withdrawal from Tirreno-Adriatico. The best stage racer of last year, it will be interesting to gauge his form against that of Tour rival Alberto Contador.

Alberto Contador – El Pistolero is perhaps the favourite for this year’s edition with his dominant win in the Tirreno-Adriatico against a very strong lineup. Contador is a rider that excels when the parcours is mountainous, but even more so when confidence is high. His dispatching of Movistar’s Nairo Quintana last week will have fanned those flames of belief.

Dan Martin – The Irishman enters this year’s race as defending champion. With this year’s Giro d’Italia on his schedule due to the Grande Partenza, it is likely the Volta will provide vital preparation for him. Mostly absent so far this season, his form is largely unknown at this stage.

Carlos Betancur – The Paris-Nice winner enters this race on a high and moving towards a more competitive ‘race weight’. Already regarded as a top climber thanks to his performance at last year’s Giro, Betancur has proved his underlying form is good, however it remains to be seen how he tackles bigger ramps.

Joaquim Rodriguez – The Spaniard has had a low-key start to the season, this being his first WorldTour race since last year’s Il Lombardia in the autumn of 2013. That race confirmed him as the world number one on the WorldTour rankings list, so he’s definitely a force to be reckoned with should he be selected, but he is traditionally a late bloomer in terms of form.

The Race

The Volta is known for it’s hilly parcours that takes in many significant climbs; 25 of them in fact. Significantly, the race has two summit finishes in stages three and four up to La Molina and the hors catégorie Vallter 2000-Setcases respectively, and it’s here that the GC contenders will be making their move. Our ‘contenders’ list notwithstanding, we could witness attacks from Chris Horner, Nairo Quintana, Sammy Sanchez, Tejay Van Garderen and Pierre Rolland as the race shakes out.

The danger of course is that the race might stagnate because the roads are so well known – if riders don’t live in nearby Girona, they’ll visit regularly for training camps because of the variety and quality of roads in the area. But the organisers have gone to great lengths to throw in second and first-category climbs followed by descents to stage finishes, encouraging attacks to animate the race and help riders steal time on their rivals.

Thrown into the mix too is a ‘sprinters’ stage on stage five, while the race finishes in Catalonia’s capital Barcelona. It promises to be an exciting race to add contrast to the classics season.

Stages

This year’s route of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.
© Volta Catalunya
Graphics © Google

Monday 24 March – Stage 1, Calella to Calella, 165 km

Tuesday 25 March – Stage 2, Mataró to Girona, 171.2 km

Wednesday 26 March – Stage 3, Banyoles to La Molina (Alp), 162.9 km

Thursday 27 March – Stage 4, Alp – Valter 2000 to Setcases, 166.4 km

Friday 28 March – Stage 5, Llanars to Vall de Camprodon, 222.2 km

Saturday 29 March – Stage 6, El Vendrell to Vilanova i la Geltru, 163.9 km

Sunday 30 March – Stage 7: Barcelona (Montjuic) to Barcelona (Montjuic), 120 km

You can catch the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya live on Eurosport throughout the week.

Tirreno-Adriatico 2014 Analysis

Alberto Contador made a statement of intent for his 2014 grand tour aspirations with a convincing victory in the Race of the Two Seas.

The infamous pistol salute is back.
Photo © Tim de Waele.

Benefitting from a more traditional route that included mountaintop finishes and time trials of the team and individual variety, the 2014 Tirreno-Adriatico attracted the cream of the grand tour hopefuls in a race that mirrored the longer three week races coming later in the season.

Beginning with a team time trial, it was Omega Pharma-Quick Step who ruled the roost, showing impressive cohesiveness and power with a team made up of the majority of Mark Cavendish’s grand tour lead out train. In a discipline that carries similarities with the technique of a well-oiled sprint train, it will serve as a big motivator for the coming season, with Cavendish’s proclamation that this could be the strongest group of riders he’s ridden with embodying their optimism.

The race moved onto a flat stage the following day and with Cavendish in blue thanks to his passing the line first in the previous day’s team time trial, it was an opportunity to show the jersey. However, it was not to be as he got boxed in in the closing kilometre, leaving it to surprise victor Matteo Pelucchi of IAM Cycling to beat off Arnaud Démare and André Greipel.

Stage three’s profile suited the puncheurs, giving the chance for Peter Sagan to exact revenge on Michal Kwiatkowski for his defeat at the Strade Bianche. He duly delivered, succeeding a strong man’s finish ahead of the Pole, Philippe Gilbert of BMC Racing and Simon Clarke of Orica Green-Edge. The result left the pure sprinters far behind, but thanks to his team’s performance on the first day meant Kwiatkowski inherited the blue jersey fromhis team mate Cavendish.

The race then hit a mountain double-header and it was here that Alberto Contador proved his quality and form by winning both stages. Winning back-to-back stages seems to be a trend this season, with Carlos Betancur doing the same to win Paris-Nice, but here it was against arguably the best climber in the world in Nairo Quintana and the might of Team Sky with Richie Porte at the helm, and with notable rivals Daniel Moreno, Rigoberto Urán, Ivan Basso, Chris Horner, Domenico Pozzovivo… and so on.

Also his favour was teammate Roman Kreuziger, the 27-year-old surely a man capable of winning his own grand tour one day, acting as a foil and double threat to the field. It’s a tactic we’ve seen last season to limited effect, but here the duo seemed to be able to step up with that extra one per cent performance when it mattered. Different from the way the Schlecks would work in tandem and support each other on climbs in the past, the pair have worked a system of one-two punches and longer game strategies that paid off here. What chance of a repeat in the biggest race of the year in July?

The race then returned to the flat and here the power and teamwork showed by Omega Pharma-Quick Step in the race opening team time trial was in evidence again, leading Mark Cavendish home to a win so convincing his lead out man Alessandro Petacchi was able to coast over the line to take second place. Granted, in this particular finish there was a crash that involved many Lotto-Belisol riders, perhaps robbing many of the chance to contest the sprint fairly, but the speed and efficiency at which Omega Pharma-Quick Step were able to dominate the lead out will have sent shivers through the camps of Lotto-Belisol and Giant-Shimano.

The final day’s individual time trial also provided some intrigue, with Adriano Malori claiming victory ahead of specialists Fabian Cancellara, Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin. While there are bigger fish to fry for those three, they’ll be disappointed to have been beaten to top spot here.

It was an easy ride for Contador to secure GC victory, but interestingly proved that despite some rocking and rolling on his time trial bike, Quintana has worked to improve his time trial ability in the off-season, nicking a few seconds back in the process. While nowhere near enough to change the overall standings in his favour, it will be a source of encouragement for him as his strives to become a more complete grand tour rider. Thanks to Tinkoff-Saxo’s tactics and his good time trialling, Roman Kreuziger was able to secure the bottom podium step.

The race also provided disappointments for a few riders. Richie Porte withdrew due to illness, putting a dent in his preparations for the Giro d’Italia, while Cadel Evans pulled out citing frustration with his poor form. The Australian is targeting the Giro this season like countryman Porte, while Rigoberto Urán too suffered from poor form, not featuring on the mountain terrain during the event.

Next up on the WorldTour calendar is the classics season, so expect the grand tour names to be taking time to train while the puncheurs, strong men and sprinters battle it out over the next few weeks.

Who’s your favourite for the grand tours this season following the Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice? Get in touch by leaving a comment and let us know!

Preview: Tirreno-Adriatico 2014

While the Paris-Nice race is going on down the spine of France, Italy hosts it’s equivalent WorldTour race, the Tirreno-Adriatico. Won last year by Vincenzo Nibali, the Italian has decided instead to race over the border, meaning we’ll have a new winner this season.

Don’t be fooled into thinking the standard is lower though: the likes of Nibali and Van Garderen are missing, but there’s plenty of Grand Tour GC talent on show with many preferring this race as preparation because of the lack of mountaintop finishes that characterise the longer flagship races.

The Contenders

Richie Porte – Drafted in to replace the injured Chris Froome, Porte has sacrificed his Paris-Nice title won last year to lead Team Sky at Tirreno-Adriatico. The profile should suit him a little better, so high hopes for him.

Domenico Pozzovivo – The Italian may be targeting a strong performance at this race to fettle his condition for the forthcoming classics. One to watch.

Ivan Basso – Another Italian with good climbing legs, Basso is part of a strong Cannondale line up including Peter Sagan and Moreno Moser.

Nairo Quintana – Aiming for the Giro this year, Quintana will be hoping for the best condition possible at the Tirreno-Adriatico. His possibly unrivalled climbing ability will see him placed highly in the GC rankings.

Michele Scarponi – Yet to be confirmed for the race, Scarponi would add yet more class to a very strong field. A top-10 finish is in the offing if he can stay with the likes of Porte and Quintana.

Cadel Evans – Another ‘TBC’, Evans is racing this year without the burden of leading the team at the Tour de France this summer (that honour has gone to American Tejay Van Gerderen). With his wings unclipped, many are tipping him to climb onto the podium by the end of the race.

Alberto Contador – The pistol wielding Spaniard has gone on record as saying he’d like to win this race this year. His form has been good in the early season, so he’ll be aiming to improve upon the third place finish he claimed last year, behind absentees Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome.

The Race

Expect the early part of the race to mimic Grand Tours, with stages designed to suit the sprinters and puncheurs to have their day. Stages four and five are mountainous and it’s here we expect the general classification to really sort itself out. Stage five finishes with a gradient of 30% in places and frankly that’s all that needs to be said!

Following that torture, the race flattens out as a reward for the sprinters, then stage seven hosts the traditional final time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto to sort out any close battles in the general classification.

Stages

Tirreno-Adriatico 2014 route map.
© Gazetta dello Sport

Wednesday 12 March – Stage 1, Donoratico to San Vincenzo (TTT), 16.9 km

Thursday 13 March – Stage 2, San Vincenzo to Cascina, 173 km

Friday 14 March – Stage 3, Cascina to Arezzo, 206 km

Saturday 15 March – Stage 4, Indicatore to Selva Rotonda, 237 km

Sunday 16 March – Stage 5, Amatrice to Guardiagrele, 190 km

Monday 17 March – Stage 6, Bucchianico to Porto Sant’Elpidio, 187 km

Tuesday 18 March – Stage 7, San Benedetto del Tronto (ITT), 9.2 km

You can catch the Tirreno-Adriatico race live on Eurosport throughout the week.