Male Team 25 - 31 Mar
Volta a Catalunya
1159 Kilometers 7 Stages
One the longest-standing, most competitive streaks the Movistar Team keeps alive in 2019 are its victories in the Volta a Catalunya, where they have the honour of starting the 99th edition fo the race after having won the last three on a row. Alejandro Valverde will be the main name of a Blue lineup which will find at Calella’s start a very much known route, a classic parcours with no time trials and many characteristic finishes from the oldest race in our country.
The climbs of Santa Fe (Cat-1; nearly 1,300m above sea level), Muntanyà (Cat-1), Collformic (Cat-1) and Collsacreu -Cat-3; a tricky downhill afterwards- will make for a difficult opener (Monday 25th), even if still suited to sprinters. A slightly uphill last straight in Sant Feliu de Guíxols (Tuesday 26th) will preceed the two mountain-top finishes of the race: Vallter 2000 (HC), on Wednesday 27th, preceeded by Oix (Cat-1) and Rocabruna (Cat-1); and La Molina (Cat-1), on Thursday 28th, featuring the previous ascents to Coubet (Cat-1), Creueta (HC) and another time up the finish (Cat-1).
Before the hilly showdown in Montjuïc (Sunday 31st), with eight laps over the famous mountain in Barcelona, there will be two rolling stages with dangerous winds, with arrivals to Sant Cugat del Vallès (189km, Friday 29th) and most notably Vila-seca (174km, Saturday 30th), just next to the Mediterranean.