Remco Evenepoel, a great star will shine on the Volta a Catalunya 2023
February 9 th 2023 - 16:05 [GMT + 1]
Reigning world champion Remco Evenepoel will be the greatest attraction of Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2023. The Belgian star will take part in the historic Catalan race for the first time, as both the Soudal-Quick Step team and the rider himself have confirmed. The rainbow jersey will shine on Catalan roads for the first time since Alejandro Valverde took the start of the Volta as reigning world champion in the 2019 edition.
Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-Quick Step) is the first confirmation of some of the big stars of world cycling who will take part in the 102nd edition of the Volta a Catalunya, which will be held between 20 and 26 March. Evenepoel’s participation will supose the return of the reigning world champion to the Volta four years after Alejandro Valverde wore the rainbow jersey in the 2019 edition of the race. The Belgian star, whose last 2022 season became an historic one with wins at the Road World Championships, Vuelta a España and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, has in the Volta a Catalunya one of his few competitions marked on his way to the Giro d'Italia.
At 23, Evenepoel has established himself as one of the brightest stars in world cycling, fulfilling the expectations he generated since he debuted in the UCI World Tour level at just 18 in 2019. In his four seasons in the international peloton, he already achieved a palmarès with a World Championship, a grand tour with the Vuelta a España and a Monument, Liège-Bastogne-Liège, which should be added to other victories in the UCI WorldTour calendar such as the two obtained in the Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa and a GC overall in the Tour of Poland.
In the last decade, the Volta a Catalunya enjoyed the participation of several world champions. The triple rainbow jersey wearer in 2015, 2016 and 2017, Slovakian Peter Sagan, was present at the Volta 2021, taking a recalled stage win in Mataró. Another Belgian, Philippe Gilbert, took part on the 2016 edition four years after being world champion, Portugal's Rui Costa, world champion in 2013, raced at the Volta in 2021 and 2022, and also Poland's Michal Kwiatkowski, the Road Worlds winner in 2014, made his Volta debut in the last 2022 edition.
However, what stands out is the relationship between Volta a Catalunya and Alejandro Valverde, who was present in the three editions of the Catalan race (2019, 2021 and 2022) contested since he was crowned in the 2018 World Championships. The Spaniard legend is the last rider who has participated in the Volta a Catalunya as reigning world champion, a fact that will be repeated this 2023 with the participation of Evenepoel. Before Valverde, to witness a reigning world champion racing the Volta we would have to go back to 2001 with the presence of the Latvian Romans Vainsteins, who also took a stage victory in that edition.
The Volta a Catalunya pedigree has also been highlighted by the presence in recent years of time trial World Champions such as Rohan Dennis (in the startlist of the 2021 and 2022 editions after his World Championships wins in 2018 and 2019) and Tom Dumoulin (world champion 2017, starter in the last edition), in addition to the Olympic Games champion, the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz, second in the Volta 2022 general classification nine months after conquering the Olympics in Tokyo.
A list of great champions who have participated in the Volta a Catalunya to which Remco Evenepoel will be added in 2023, a reference of a young new generation which is already one of the greatest attractions of world cycling.