Primoz Roglic adds to his palmares a Volta a Catalunya to remember
March 26 th 2023 - 17:02 [GMT + 2]
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) is the final winner of the 102nd Volta Ciclista a Catalunya after a great defence of his lead in the final stage at the Montjuic Circuit in Barcelona. The Slovenian has reached the finish line with world champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), who earned his second stage victory after the one in La Molina, thus adding to his already extensive list of victories the historic Catalan race, one of the last UCI WorldTour stage races he had left to win.
An extraordinary edition of the Volta a Catalunya 2023 closed this Sunday 26 March with a final stage of 135.8 kilometres starting and finishing in Barcelona, with the inclusion of the Alt de Begues (2nd category) in the initial part of the stage and the six climbs to the Alt del Castell de Montjuic (2nd category). A festive finale that, as every year, offers an enormous sporting and public spectacle in an iconic setting in the history of international cycling.
In a very hard-fought start to the stage, a high-level breakaway was formed with the second-placed rider of the last edition, the Ecuadorian champion Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), a Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) who was trying to fight for the mountains classification, the Catalan David De La Cruz (Astana-Qazaqstan), Carlos Verona (Movistar Team), Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers), Simon Carr (EF Education-EasyPost), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel Euskadi), Geoffrey Bouchard (Ag2r Citroën) and Tsgabu Grmay (Team Jayco-Alula), as usual controlled by an ambitious group of favourites on a final circuit which always delivers a nice battle.
De La Cruz managed to stand out alone in the first laps of the circuit, but for yet another day, the race became a duel between the two main protagonists of the race when Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step), who started the stage 10 seconds behind race leader Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), went on the attack again just under 30 kilometres from the finish line, on the third of the six laps of the Castell de Montjuic circuit.
As on the previous day, Roglic, Evenepoel and Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) proved to be the strongest riders when the road was climbing. The Catalan rider responded to the early moves, but was cut off when Evenepoel moved again on the hardest part of the climb on the Castell with two laps to go. The Belgian and the Slovenian, two of the great references of today's international cycling, have starred in a new chapter of their duel, the great protagonist of the Volta 2023, which has ended with Evenepoel's second stage victory after the one achieved in La Molina.
Thus, Primoz Roglic has been proclaimed the winner of the Volta a Catalunya 2023 with only six seconds ahead of Remco Evenepoel, having also won two stage victories (Sant Feliu de Guíxols and Lo Port) and the points classification. Completing a luxury podium were Evenepoel, winner of the La Molina and Barcelona stages and of the mountains classifications and the best young rider and, in third place, Portugal's Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates), repeating his podium finish from last season. UAE Team Emirates as best team and as best Catalan Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), 4th final classified and great protagonist, were the other prizes of the final podium of an edition of the Volta to remember.
