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Volta a Catalunya
Race details
2023 Volta a Catalunya
Logotip Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.png
Date	Late March
Region	Catalonia, Spain
English name	Tour of Catalonia
Local name(s)	Vuelta a Cataluña Volta a Catalunya
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI World Tour
Type	Stage race
Organiser	"Volta" Ciclista a Catalunya Associació Esportiva (Unió Esportiva de Sants)
Race director	Rubèn Peris
History
First edition	1911 (1911)
Editions	102 (as of 2023)
First winner	Sebastià Masdeu (ESP)
Most wins	Mariano Cañardo (ESP) (7 wins)
Most recent	Primož Roglič (SLO)

The Volta a Catalunya (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈbɔltə ə kətəˈluɲə]; Tour of Catalonia, Spanish: Vuelta a Cataluña) 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.

History
Route
Winners
Jerseys
See also

History

The pioneering days

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.

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

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.

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.

Route of the 2012 Volta a Catalunya.

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

		Rider
1911		Masdeu, SebastiaSebastià Masdeu
1912		Magdalena, JosépJosép Magdalena
1913		Martí, JuanJuan Martí
1914– 1919	No race
1920		Pelletier, JoseJosé Pelletier
1921	No race
1922	No race
1923		Ville, MauriceMaurice Ville	Automoto-Hutchinson
1924		Mucio, MiquelMiquel Mucio	U.D. Sans
1925		Mucio, MiquelMiquel Mucio	U.D. Sans
1926		Fontan, VictorVíctor Fontan	individual
1927		Fontan, VictorVíctor Fontan	individual
1928		Canardo, MarianoMariano Cañardo	Elvish-Wolber
1929		Canardo, MarianoMariano Cañardo	F.C. Barcelona
1930		Canardo, MarianoMariano Cañardo	Styl
1931		Cardona, SalvadorSalvador Cardona	individual
1932		Canardo, MarianoMariano Cañardo	individual
1933		Bovet, AlfredoAlfredo Bovet	Bianchi
1934		Rogora, BernardoBernardo Rogora	Gloria
1935		Canardo, MarianoMariano Cañardo	Orbea
1936		Canardo, MarianoMariano Cañardo	Colin–Wolber
1937	No race
1938	No race
1939		Canardo, MarianoMariano Cañardo	individual
1940		Didier, ChristopheChristophe Didier	Alcyon–Dunlop
1941		Sancho, Antonio AndrésAntonio Andrés Sancho	individual
1942		Ezquerra, FedericoFédérico Ezquerra	individual
1943		Berrendero, JulianJulián Berrendero	F.C. Barcelona
1944		Casas, MiguelMiguel Casas	individual
1945		Ruiz, BernardoBernardo Ruiz	individual
1946		Berrendero, JulianJulián Berrendero	Chiclès-Tabay
1947		Rodriguez, EmilioEmilio Rodríguez	U.D. Sans–Alas Color–Minaco
1948		Rodriguez, EmilioEmilio Rodríguez	U.D. Sans-Alas Color
1949		Rol, ÉmileÉmile Rol	La Perle–Hutchinson
1950		Gelabert, AntonioAntonio Gelabert	individual
1951		Volpi, PrimoPrimo Volpi	Arbos-Talbot
1952		Poblet, MiguelMiguel Poblet	Canals & Nubiola
1953		Botella, SalvadorSalvador Botella	individual
1954		Serena, WalterWalter Serena	Bottecchia-Ursus
1955		Gómez del Moral, JoseJosé Gómez del Moral	Minaco
1956		Utset, AnicetoAniceto Utset	Mobylette–Coabania
1957		Lorono, JesusJesús Loroño
1958		Van Genechten, RichardRichard Van Genechten
1959		Botella, SalvadorSalvador Botella
1960		Poblet, MiguelMiguel Poblet
1961		Duez, HenriHenri Duez
1962		Karmany, AntonioAntonio Karmany
1963		Novales, JosephJoseph Novales
1964		Carrara, JosephJoseph Carrara
1965		Gómez del Moral, AntonioAntonio Gómez del Moral
1966		den Hartog, ArieArie den Hartog
1967		Anquetil, JacquesJacques Anquetil
1968		Merckx, EddyEddy Merckx
1969		Diaz, MarianoMariano Díaz
1970		Bitossi, FrancoFranco Bitossi
1971		Ocana, LuisLuis Ocaña
1972		Gimondi, FeliceFelice Gimondi
1973		Perurena, DomingoDomingo Perurena
1974		Thevenet, BernardBernard Thévenet
1975		Bertoglio, FaustoFausto Bertoglio
1976		Martinez, EnriqueEnrique Martínez
1977		Maertens, FreddyFreddy Maertens
1978		Moser, FrancescoFrancesco Moser
1979		Belda, VicenteVicente Belda
1980		Lejarreta, MarinoMarino Lejarreta	Teka
1981		Rupérez, FaustinoFaustino Rupérez	Zor
1982		Fernandez, AlbertoAlberto Fernández	Teka
1983		Recio, JosepJosep Recio	Kelme
1984		Kelly, SeanSean Kelly	Skil–Sem
1985		Millar, RobertRobert Millar	Peugeot
1986		Kelly, SeanSean Kelly	KAS
1987		Pino, AlvaroÁlvaro Pino	BH
1988		Induráin, MiguelMiguel Induráin	Reynolds
1989		Lejarreta, MarinoMarino Lejarreta	Caja Rural
1990		Cubino, LaudelinoLaudelino Cubino	BH
1991		Induráin, MiguelMiguel Induráin	Banesto
1992		Induráin, MiguelMiguel Induráin	Banesto
1993		Mejia, AlvaroÁlvaro Mejía	Motorola
1994		Chiappucci, ClaudioClaudio Chiappucci	Carrera Jeans–Tassoni
1995		Jalabert, LaurentLaurent Jalabert	ONCE
1996		Zulle, AlexAlex Zülle	ONCE
1997		Escartin, FernandoFernando Escartín	Kelme–Costa Blanca
1998		Buenahora, HernánHernán Buenahora	Vitalicio Seguros
1999		Beltran, ManuelManuel Beltrán	Banesto
2000		Jimenez, Jose MariaJosé María Jiménez	Banesto
2001		Beloki, JosebaJoseba Beloki	ONCE–Eroski
2002		Heras, RobertoRoberto Heras	U.S. Postal Service
2003		Pecharroman, Jose AntonioJosé Antonio Pecharromán	Costa de Almería-Paternina
2004		Martin Perdiguero, Miguel AngelMiguel Ángel Martín Perdiguero	Phonak
2005		Popovych, YaroslavYaroslav Popovych	Discovery Channel
2006		Canaga, DavidDavid Cañada	Saunier Duval–Prodir
2007		Karpets, VladimirVladimir Karpets	Caisse d'Epargne
2008		Cesar, GustavoGustavo César	Karpin–Galicia
2009		Valverde, AlejandroAlejandro Valverde	Caisse d'Epargne
2010		Rodríguez, JoaquimJoaquim Rodríguez	Team Katusha
2011		Scarponi, MicheleMichele Scarponi	Lampre–ISD
2012		Albasini, MichaelMichael Albasini	GreenEDGE
2013		Martin, DanDan Martin	Garmin–Sharp
2014		Rodríguez, JoaquimJoaquim Rodríguez	Team Katusha
2015		Porte, RichieRichie Porte	Team Sky
2016		Quintana, NairoNairo Quintana	Movistar Team
2017		Valverde, AlejandroAlejandro Valverde	Movistar Team
2018		Valverde, AlejandroAlejandro Valverde	Movistar Team
2019		López, Miguel ÁngelMiguel Ángel López	Astana
2020	No race
2021		Yates, AdamAdam Yates	Ineos Grenadiers
2022		Higuita, SergioSergio Higuita	Bora–Hansgrohe
2023		Roglič, PrimožPrimož Roglič	Team Jumbo–Visma

Multiple winners

Wins	Rider	Editions
7	Mariano Cañardo (ESP)	1928, 1929, 1930, 1932, 1935, 1936, 1939
3	Miguel Induráin (ESP)	1988, 1991, 1992
3	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)	2009, 2017, 2018
2	Miguel Mucio (ESP)	1924, 1925
	Victor Fontan (FRA)	1926, 1927
	Emilio Rodríguez (ESP)	1947, 1948
	Miguel Poblet (ESP)	1952, 1960
	Salvador Botella (ESP)	1953, 1959
	Marino Lejarreta (ESP)	1980, 1989
	Sean Kelly (IRL)	1984, 1986
	Joaquim Rodríguez (ESP)	2010, 2014

Wins per country

Wins	Country
60	Spain
11	France
10	Italy
5	Colombia
3	Belgium Ireland
2	Great Britain Switzerland
1	Australia Luxembourg Netherlands Russia Slovenia Ukraine

Most stage wins

#	Rider	Stage wins
1	Miguel Poblet (ESP)	33
2	Mariano Cañardo (ESP)	22
3	Domingo Perurena (ESP)	14
4	Emilio Rodríguez (ESP)	12
5	Mario Cipollini (ITA)	11
6	Miguel Gual (ESP)	10
7	Alejandro Valverde (ESP)	9
8	Laurent Jalabert (FRA)	8
	Seán Kelly (IRL)	8
	Johan van der Velde (NED)	8
	Julián Berrendero (ESP)	8

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.