The best women’s cycling in the world will meet in Catalonia on June 7, 8 and 9 for the first women’s edition of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya. Its first version will count with the participation of a Cuban Arlenis Sierra (Movistar-Team) and two Colombians: Jessenia Meneses (Laboral Kutxa – Fundación Euskadi) and Milena Salcedo (Pato Bike BMC Team).
The historic Catalan cycling organization premieres a stage race of international category UCI 2.1 with stars of world cycling as the legendary Marianne Vos, Cecilie Uttrup-Ludwig, Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, Riejanne Markus or Évita Muzic will compete in three stages of attraction and variety from Manresa to Barcelona.
The first edition of the women’s stage race of Catalunya will take place between Friday 7 and Sunday 9 June, with the presence of 20 teams, seven of which are UCI Women’s WorldTour teams.
A peloton of more than 130 cyclists will cross the Catalan territory in three stages with venues in Manresa, La Seu d’Urgell, La Molina, Molins de Rei and Barcelona that will gather a luxury participation with an important number of stars of the international women’s peloton. An undoubtedly historic milestone that comes after four editions of the reVolta as a one-day race and that will mark a before and after in the trajectory of the Catalan cycling organization.
Three stages with all terrains, with finish in altitude
The Volta a Catalunya will start this Friday with a medium mountain stage of 100.6 kilometers starting and finishing from Manresa, European City of Sport 2024. It will be a first stage of 100.6 kilometers through the regions of Bages, Anoia and Solsonès that will reach 1,500 meters of accumulated altitude difference. The scoring ports of Coll de Pinós and Coll de Cal Pallarès (3rd category), along with a totally leg-breaking terrain in the central part of the route, will begin to define the cyclists with more options to play the race.
Keeping intact the identity of the Volta a Catalunya, the women’s race will have a real high mountain challenge that is expected to be decisive for the resolution of the general classification in stage 2, to be held on Saturday. Starting in another historic venue of the race as La Seu d’Urgell, the stage will have 95.7 kilometers of route and two 1st category passes such as the exhausting Collada de Toses and the high altitude arrival of La Molina, which will host the finish line. A demanding route ideal to see the best climbers of the international peloton fighting for victory in the mountain station of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya, which has hosted stages of the men’s Volta on eight occasions in recent years.
For its part, the city of Barcelona could not be missing as a great protagonist of the Volta a Catalunya, and will host the arrival of a final stage starting from Molins de Rei and will be 86.6 kilometers long. The interior of the Baix Llobregat and the Penedès will be protagonist in the route of this final day, which with the difficulties of the Alt dels Casots (2nd category) and the Alt de Begues (3rd category), expects a nervous and demanding development before the arrival in the capital of Catalonia, which will put the icing on the cake to crown the champion of the first women’s Volta a Catalunya.
*With Press Information Volta a Catalunya