La reVolta is the race promoted by Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Associació Esportiva as a sign of the organisation's commitment to women's cycling. The race has already celebrated three editions, held in 2018, 2021 and 2022, aiming to consolidate its position as a major event on the internacional cycling calendar.
The 3rd edition of the reVolta was held on 29 May in Sant Cugat del Vallès, repeating the venue that gave the reVolta its own entity in the second edition of the race, held in 2021.
- reVolta 3rd edition
- One day race: 29th May 2022
- Cathegory: National 1.15.2 - Women's Catalan Cup
An international peloton
Germany's Clara Koppenburg (Cofidis Women's Team) was the brilliant winner of the 3rd edition of the reVolta, arriving alone in Sant Cugat after breaking away on the ramps of l'Alt de la Creu d'Aragall. She was accompanied on the podium by the Catalan Mireia Benito (Massi-Tactic), who once again demonstrated her great progression after her fourth place last year, and the Polish Aurela Nerlo, also from the Catalan Massi-Tactic team.
Around eighty cyclists of 15 different nationalities were on the start line, allowing to enjoy the spectacle of top-level women's cycling in Sant Cugat. One of the great attractions of the race was the presence of the Cofidis team, the renowned French professional team with more than 20 years of experience with its men's team, which has made a strong start in 2022 with its commitment to the women's team, alongside with the Catalan team of reference, a Massi-Tactic that after demonstrating its potential in several international races faced the race with ambition.
At her side there were cyclists from several international UCI Women's Continental teams, highlighting the Galician Team Farto-BTC, and a participation that will allow to see in action five of the ten Catalans that this 2022 race in international UCI teams: in addition to Mireia Benito and Mireia Trias (Massi-Tactic), the reigning elite Spanish Cup champion Patricia Ortega (Sopela Women's Team), the 2021 Catalan champion Iris Gómez (Bizkaia-Durango) and Sílvia Zúñiga (Eneicat-RBH Global) also took part on the event.
The peloton of the 3rd reVolta included riders from Spain, France, Portugal, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, Poland, Mexico, Argentina, Iran, Great Britain, Colombia and South Africa.
reVolta winners
|
The parcours
With Sant Cugat del Vallès as the race city host, the reVolta had the same parcours for its second and third edition. A selective and attractive parcours through the road of the Vallès Occidental, Baix Llobregat, Anoia and Alt Penedès, in Barcelona region, looking for the show needed for a proper one-day race.
The reVolta has his own route of 97 km, with a start and finish at Avinguda Pla de Vinyet inSant Cugat and two mountainous difficulties to overcome: the Alt de la Capçuda (third category, km 52,1) and the Alt de la Creu d'Aragall (first category, km 67,6). Also, two intermediate sprints are held in Piera (km 33,3) and Corbera de Llobregat (km 74,5).
Sant Cugat del Vallès, one step forward
The move to have its own day and venue was a great step for the event compared to the first edition, which took advantage of the infrastructure of the last stage of the 2018 Volta in its final stretch through Montjuic.
The Norwegian rider Katrine Aalerud, from Movistar Team, was the winner of this second edition, winning in a thrilling sprint finish over her compatriot Vita Heine (Massi-Tactic) and the Russian Anna Baidak (Eneicat-RBH Global), second and third classified, respectively. The fourth place went to Mireia Benito (Massi-Tactic), winning the trophy of first Catalan rider in the orevall ranking. As for the team classification, Massi-Tactic was first, followed by Movistar and Laboral Kutxa-Fundación Euskadi.
It was on the climb to La Creu d’Aragall where the selection of the riders who would fight for the victory was made. Already in the final meters, Aalerud proved to be the fastest, crossing the finish line just ahead of Heine, who had to settle for second place, but won the mountain prize and the special sprints. Baidak completed third place on the podium with first place in the under-23 ranking.
The high level of the race was credited with the presence of teams such as Movistar Team, included in the highest category of women's cycling (UCI WorldTeam). The representatives of the second category –the UCI Contiental Teams– was wide, starting with Massi-Tactic. The foreign teams was in charge of the French Le Boulou and Macogep Tornatech, located in Canada, but with French roots.
2018, a first reVolta in Montjuïc
Katrine Aalerud replaced in the former list the American Lauren Stephens (Cylance Procycling) in the reVolta, who won the inaugural edition of the event (March 25, 2018). The Catalan rider Lorena Llamas and Sofía Rodríguez completed the podium of that first edition.
The saturation of the calendar made it impossible to organise the reVolta in 2019 and the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic also forced it to be postponed to 2020. Even so, the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya's desire to organise a top-level women's race with its own entity remained firm until the race was resumed in 2021.
In this way, the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya is placed alongside other leading races such as the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta in Spain, which also organise women's races.
