Thirty years after its final summit end at the Alt de Montserrat, the 2025 Volta a Catalunya will go back to what’s arguably the rustic’s maximum emblematic ascent for a full-scale mountain struggle.
The final time the Volta visited the Alt de Montserrat used to be in June 1995, with a victory for French champion Laurent Jalabert on degree 1, within the procedure permitting ‘Ja-ja’ to clinch what proved to be an unbreakable grasp at the total lead.
The Volta triumph used to be all a part of Jalabert’s best-ever season, claiming Milan-San Remo, Il Lombardia and the Vuelta a España in the similar season, in addition to hanging five-times Excursion winner Miguel Indurain up towards the ropes in a memorable ambush that July within the Excursion en path to Mende airfield.
Not like 30 years in the past and given the very balanced nature of the ends up in the hole mountain degree on Wednesday, it isn’t in any respect positive whoever wins within the shadow of the traditional monastery on the Montserrat this 12 months will take the Volta a Catalunya outright. May just it’s new race chief Juan Ayuso (UAE Group Emirates-XRG) or most sensible rival and second-placed Primož Roglič (Crimson Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe)? Will a brand new contender upward push to the instance?
Besides, Thursday’s ascent, ranked class 1 and totalling 8.8 kilometres at 6.6% is difficult sufficient to be sure that whoever is available in as GC chief for the Volta’s showdown degree on Saturday may have proved they’ve some critical hiking credentials.
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“The riders will get into a steady pace, they won’t need to use any of those really extreme gears that are so popular in the peloton now. The main climb itself is broad and well-surfaced because so many buses go up to the monastery at the top.
“It is a very well-known climb right here in Catalunya, the entire space round Montserrat is sort of a ‘temple of Catalan cyclotourism’.”
The Volta a Catalunya’s summit finish at Montserrat forms part of the millennium celebrations for the monastery at the top of the climb, but cycling is far from being the only sport with strong connections to one of the country’s most important religious sites. As López de Egea points out, back when Catalunya’s premier football side, FC Barcelona, was coached by legendary Dutch trainer Johan Cruyff, if the team won the league or any other important championship – as happened a lot back then – the players would celebrate by cycling up the climb in homage to the Madonna of Monserrat, the patron saint of the country.
Apart from the Volta Montserrat has been tackled by other races, most recently by the Vuelta a España in 2019 as part of a stage that finished in a bunch sprint some kilometres further on, in the city of Igualada.
“However it is most commonly very well known for cyclo-tourists as a result of there are many gravel tracks and sideroads resulting in the principle one,” López de Egea said. “And one in all Catalunya’s most renowned cyclo-tourist MTB occasions, L. a. Portals, takes position on it once a year. On Thursday, although, I am predicting a special more or less struggle – one between the 2 most sensible riders at L. a. Moliina, [Primoz] Roglič and [race leader Juan] Ayuso.”
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Profile of degree 4 for the 2025 Volta a Catalunya(Symbol credit score: Volta a Catalunya)
