Volta a Catalunya

Volta a Catalunya

Race details
Date	Late-May
Region	Catalonia
English name	Tour of Catalonia
Local name(s)	Volta a Catalunya (Catalan)
Discipline	Road
Competition	UCI ProTour
Type	Stage-race
History
First edition	1911
Editions	87 (as of 2007)
First winner	Sebastià Masdeu
Most wins	Mariano Cañardo (7 wins)
Most recent	Vladimir Karpets

The Volta a Catalunya is a popular road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia. It is a part of the UCI ProTour programme, ranking only second behind the Vuelta a España in popularity for Spain. Due to its place in the riding calendar (after the Giro d'Italia), it is viewed as an important Tour de France preparation race for cyclists. The overall winner receives a white and green striped jersey. In addition, as a week-long stage race, the Volta winner receives 50 ProTour points, followed by 40, 35, 30, 25, 20, 15, 10, 5, 1 for the other top 10 riders. Stages are valued at 1 point each. The Volta a Catalunya is the third oldest cycling stage race in the world (first time in 1911), only behind the Tour de France (1903) and the Giro d'Italia (1909).

Past winners

Rider Team 1911 Sebastià Masdeu 1912 Josep Magdalena 1913 Joan Martí 1914- 1919 No race 1920 José Pelletier 1921 No race 1922 No race 1923 Maurice Ville 1924 Miquel Mucio 1925 Miquel Mucio 1926 Víctor Fontan 1927 Víctor Fontan 1928 Mariano Cañardo 1929 Mariano Cañardo 1930 Mariano Cañardo 1931 Salvador Cardona 1932 Mariano Cañardo 1933 Alfredo Bovet 1934 Bernardo Rogora 1935 Mariano Cañardo 1936 Mariano Cañardo 1937 No race 1938 No race 1939 Mariano Cañardo 1940 Cristóbal Didier 1941 Antoni Andreu Sancho 1942 Federico Ezquerra 1943 Julián Berrendero 1944 Miguel Casas 1945 Bernardo Ruiz 1946 Julián Berrendero 1947 Emilio Rodríguez 1948 Emilio Rodríguez 1949 Emxile Rol 1950 Antoni Gelabert 1951 Primo Volpi 1952 Miguel Poblet 1953 Salvador Botella 1954 Walter Serena 1955 José Gómez-Moral 1956 Anciet Utset 1957 Jesús Loroño 1958 Richard Van Genechten 1959 Salvador Botella 1960 Miguel Poblet 1961 Henri Duez

Rider Team 1962 Antonio Karmany 1963 Joseph Novales 1964 Joseph Carrara 1965 Antonio Gomez-Moral 1966 Arie Den Hartog 1967 Jacques Anquetil 1968 Eddy Merckx 1969 Mariano Díaz 1970 Franco Bitossi 1971 Luis Ocaña 1972 Felice Gimondi 1973 Domingo Perurena 1974 Bernard Thévenet 1975 Fausto Bertoglio 1976 Enrique Martínez Heredia 1977 Freddy Maertens 1978 Francesco Moser 1979 Vicente Belda 1980 Marino Lejarreta 1981 Faustino Ruperez 1982 Alberto Fernández 1983 Josep Recio 1984 Seán Kelly 1985 Robert Millar 1986 Seán Kelly 1987 Álvaro Pino 1988 Miguel Indurain 1989 Marino Lejarreta 1990 Laudelino Cubino 1991 Miguel Indurain 1992 Miguel Indurain 1993 Álvaro Mejía 1994 Claudio Chiappucci 1995 Laurent Jalabert 1996 Alex Zülle 1997 Fernando Escartín 1998 Hernan Buenahora 1999 Manuel Beltrán 2000 José Maria Jimenez 2001 Joseba Beloki 2002 Roberto Heras 2003 José Antonio Pecharroman 2004 Miguel Ángel Martín Perdiguero 2005 Yaroslav Popovych Discovery Channel 2006 David Cañada Saunier Duval-Prodir 2007 Vladimir Karpets Caisse d'Epargne

External links

• www.voltacatalunya.cat Official website (Catalan)