Paris-Nice, the first big French race of the year, gets the most headlines; Tirreno-Adriatico tries to fight for attention in the same week; and the Itzulia Basque Country boasts the relentless leg-sapping climbs that leaves the final result up in the air until the final kilometres. Although Jonas Vingegaard has been forced to pull out, killing the planned showdown between him and Primož Roglič, for me, there’s only the spring stage race that comes out on top in the battle of which is best: the Volta a Catalunya. Let me explain why.
While it’s true that every stage race attempts to encompass the best of a Grand Tour in a shorter time frame, with time trials, sprint stages, days for the rouleurs and breakaway riders, and GC-altering days all spread out between six (Itzulia and Tour de Romandie) and eight (Tour de Suisse) stages, Catalunya is the first of the Big-7 stage races to venture high into the proper mountains, with the peloton ascending to more than 2,000m in most of the past editions. For the first time in the season, altitude – often so decisive in the three Grand Tours – comes into play.
