
Whenever the names of cycling's top stage racing specialists Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard are missing from a start list, the ensuing power vacuum makes for a much more aggressive GC battle, says 2024 Volta a Catalunya runner-up Mikel Landa.
Neither defending champion Pogačar, focussing on the Spring Classics in Belgium, nor Vingegaard, who cancelled his promised participation after injuring his hand in a crash in Paris-Nice, will be present in the 2025 Volta a Catalunya when it gets underway this Monday in San Feliu de Guixols.