The 93rd edition of Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (Tour of Catalonia) begins on Monday. With Caja Rural, Cofidis and Sojasun in addition to the 19 ProTour teams, the Volta kicks off with two stages that should favour the sprinters, with flat finishes in Calella and Banyoles.

Stage 3 will see a real test for the riders as the race heads high into the Pyrenees to finish at Vallter 2000 ski station, at 2,200m just a few kilometres from the French border.





http://app.strava.com/segments/1805066

http://veloviewer.com/segment/1805066

http://www.altimetri...erto.asp?id=449

Although the race has listed the climb as 12km @ 7.8%, it actually climbs for 22km @ 5.2%.
http://app.strava.com/segments/923027

Stage 4 is tougher, with 5 climbs to conquer. The last two classed as special category, equivalent to HC in Tour de France. Port del Cantó climbs for 18km @5.1% and is immediately followed by the summit finish of Port Ainé at 1947m. At 19km, this is another long and tough climb which averages 6.5%.



Port del Canto
http://app.strava.com/segments/1751908
http://veloviewer.com/segment/1751908

http://app.strava.com/segments/2598052
http://veloviewer.com/segment/2598052

Stage 5 is into Lleida with a bunch finish likely.

The penultimate day pays tribute to Xavier Tondo, the Catalan rider who died in an accident in May 2011. The stage finishes in front of the Xavier Tondo Sports Centre, in his home town of Valls.

Xavier Tondo wins a stage in 2010 ahead of Joaquim Rodríguez.

The final short stage into Barcelona on Sunday includes eight laps on a circuit including the Alt de Montjuïc.
All the route details can be found at http://www.voltacata....cat/ca/etapes/
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Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (Tour of Catalonia) is one of 28 races that make up the UCI World Ranking calendar. The overall winner receives a white and green striped jersey, the winner of the points classification (sprints) wears a white jersey, there is a red jersey the winner of the mountain classification and the jersey of the Catalonia national cycling team is for the best classified Catalan. There is also a team classification.

The Volta a Catalunya is the fourth-oldest cycling stage race in the world (first time in 1911), only behind the Tour de France (1903), Tour of Belgium (1908) and the Giro d'Italia (1909). Only the amateur and sub-23 Volta a Tarragona (1908) is older than the Volta a Catalunya in Catalonia and the Iberian Peninsula.

2013 Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
http://www.voltacata....cat/ca/etapes/
1. Calella-Calella. 18th March
2. Girona-Banyoles. 19th March
3. Vidreres-Vallter 2000 (Setcases). 20th
4. Llanars (Vall de Camprodon)-Port Ainé (Pallars Sobirà-Rialp). 21st
5. Rialp -Lleida. 22nd March
6. Almacelles-Valls. 23rd March
7. El Vendrell-Barcelona. 24th March



Competing Teams (Important Riders)
1. Movistar Team (Valverde, Quintana)
2. Lotto Belisol Team (van den Broeck, Hansen)
3. Sky Procycling (Wiggins, Kiryienka)
4. RadioShack - Leopard (Horner, Zubeldia)
5. Team Saxo-Tinkoff (Christensen, Duggan)
6. Euskaltel - Euskadi (Nieve)
7. Omega Pharma - Quick-Step (Meersman, Golas)
8. Vacansoleil - DCM (de Gendt, Marczynski)
9. Garmin - Sharp (Hesjedal, Kreder)
10. AG2R La Mondiale (Cherel, Gastauer)
11. Lampre - Merida (Niemiec)
12. Equipe Cycliste FDJ(Pinot, Elissonde)
13. Blanco Pro Cycling Team (Gesink, Slagter)
14. Team Argos - Shimano (Peterson)
15. Astana Pro Team (Brajkovič)
19. Katusha Team (Rodriguez)
20. Caja Rural (Domagalski)
21. Cofidis Solutions Crédits (Navarro


Volta a Catalunya - Joaquim Rodríguez in the leaders jersey in 2010.

Past Winners:

1911 -Sebastià Masdeu (ESP)

1912 - Josep Magdalena (ESP)

1913 - Joan Martí (ESP)

1914 -1919 - No race

1920 - José Pelletier (FRA)

1921 - No race

1922 - No race

1923 - Maurice Ville (FRA)

1924 - Miquel Mucio (ESP)

1925 - Miquel Mucio (ESP)

1926 - Víctor Fontan (FRA)

1927 - Víctor Fontan (FRA)

1928 - Mariano Cañardo (ESP)

1929 - Mariano Cañardo (ESP)

1930 - Mariano Cañardo (ESP)

1931 - Salvador Cardona (ESP)

1932 - Mariano Cañardo (ESP)

1933 - Alfredo Bovet (ITA)

1934 - Bernardo Rogora (ITA)

1935 - Mariano Cañardo (ESP)

1936 - Mariano Cañardo (ESP)

1937 - No race

1938 - No race

1939 - Mariano Cañardo (ESP)

1940 - Christophe Didier (LUX)

1941 - Antoni Andreu Sancho (ESP)

1942 - Fédérico Ezquerra (ESP)

1943 - Julián Berrendero (ESP)

1944 - Miguel Casas (ESP)

1945 - Bernardo Ruiz (ESP)

1946 - Julián Berrendero (ESP)

1947 - Emilio Rodríguez (ESP)

1948 - Emilio Rodríguez (ESP)

1949 - Emile Rol (FRA)

1950 - Antoni Gelabert (ESP)

1951 - Primo Volpi (ITA)

1952 - Miguel Poblet (ESP)

1953 - Salvador Botella (ESP)

1954 - Walter Serena (ITA)

1955 - José Gómez-Moral (ESP)

1956 - Anciet Utset (ESP)

1957 - Jesús Loroño (ESP)

1958 - Richard Van Genechten (BEL)

1959 - Salvador Botella (ESP)

1960 - Miguel Poblet (ESP)

1961 - Henri Duez (FRA)

1962 - Antonio Karmany (ESP)

1963 - Joseph Novales (FRA)

1964 - Joseph Carrara (FRA)

1965 - Antonio Gómez-Moral (ESP)

1966 - Arie Den Hartog (NED)

1967 - Jacques Anquetil (FRA)

1968 - Eddy Merckx (BEL)

1969 - Mariano Díaz (ESP)

1970 - Franco Bitossi (ITA)

1971 - Luis Ocaña (ESP)

1972 - Felice Gimondi (ITA)

1973 - Domingo Perurena (ESP)

1974 - Bernard Thévenet (FRA)

1975 - Fausto Bertoglio (ITA)

1976 - Enrique Martínez (ESP)

1977 - Freddy Maertens (BEL)

1978 - Francesco Moser (ITA)

1979 - Vicente Belda (ESP)

1980 - Marino Lejarreta (ESP)

1981 - Faustino Ruperez (ESP)

1982 - Alberto Fernández (ESP)

1983 - Josep Recio (ESP)

1984 - Sean Kelly (IRL)

1985 - Robert Millar (GBR)

1986 - Sean Kelly (IRL)

1987 - Álvaro Pino (ESP)

1988 - Miguel Indurain (ESP)

1989 - Marino Lejarreta (ESP)

1990 - Laudelino Cubino (ESP)

1991 - Miguel Indurain (ESP)

1992 - Miguel Indurain (ESP)

1993 - Álvaro Mejía (COL)

1994 - Claudio Chiappucci (ITA)

1995 - Laurent Jalabert (FRA)

1996 - Alex Zülle (SUI)

1997 - Fernando Escartín (ESP)

1998 - Hernan Buenahora (COL)

1999 - Manuel Beltrán (ESP)

2000 - José Maria Jimenez (ESP)

2001 - Joseba Beloki (ESP)

2002 - Roberto Heras (ESP)

2003 - José Antonio Pecharroman (ESP)

2004 - Miguel Ángel Martín Perdiguero (ESP)

2005 - Yaroslav Popovych (UKR)

2006 - David Cañada (ESP)

2007 - Vladimir Karpets (RUS)

2008 - Gustavo César (ESP)

2009 - Alejandro Valverde (ESP)

2010 - Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)

2011 - Michele Scarponi (ITA)

2012 - Michael Albasini (SUI)

2013 - ?