Волта а Каталунья: Многодневная велогонка по Испании

Spanish multi day road cycling race

The Volta a Catalunya (; Tour of Catalonia, lang es) is a road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is one of three World Tour stage races in Spain, together with the Vuelta a España and the Tour of the Basque Country. The race has had several different calendar dates, having been previously run in September, June and May. Since 2010 it has been on the calendar in late March as part of the UCI World Tour. Raced over seven days, it covers the autonomous community of Catalonia in Northeast Spain and contains one or more stages in the mountain region of the Pyrenees. The race traditionally finishes with a stage in Barcelona, Catalonia's capital, on a circuit with the famous Montjuïc climb and park. First held in 1911, the Volta a Catalunya is the fourth oldest still existing cycling stage race in the world. Only the Tour de France (1903), the Tour of Belgium (1908) and the Giro d'Italia (1909) are older. Arteman partnered with Narcisse Masferrer, president of Spanish Cycling Union, and Jaume Grau, founder and owner of El Mundo Deportivo. The first edition was held from 6 to 8 January 1911. 43 riders signed up but only 34 started on Barcelona's Plaça de Sarrià. The race grew to a one week event and gained prestige fast. It became a fixture on the calendar, attracting more foreign participants, mainly from France and Italy. In 1999, 22 year old Spanish rider Manuel Sanroma died as a result of a crash during the second stage of the race. Sanroma, a promising sprinter, was the favourite to win the stage, but fell head first onto a sidewalk at one kilometre from the finish in Vilanova i la Geltrú. Despite wearing a helmet, he succumbed to his injuries in hospital. The next day, riders decided to neutralize the stage to Barcelona.

In 2005, the Volta a Catalunya was included in the inaugural UCI Pro Tour and the date was shifted to May to avoid the Tour de Suisse date. The edition was won by Ukrainian Yaroslav Popovych but the move did not prove successful because the new date coincided with the Giro d'Italia. In 2010 the race moved to late March on the calendar, the slot formerly held by another Catalan stage race, the Setmana Catalana. Joaquim Rodríguez, the foremost Catalan rider of his generation, won the race twice after the date shift. Alberto Contador, winner of the 2011 edition, was later stripped of his win after his positive doping test in the 2010 Tour de France. Italian runner up Michele Scarponi was retroactively awarded the victory. The 2020 edition was cancelled due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

Since the race's earlier date on the calendar in late March, the Volta a Catalunya has started in one of the coastal resorts on the Costa Brava with a stage through rolling terrain inland, usually suited for sprinters. The race reaches the Pyrenees mountains in the middle part of the race, although the mountains are usually less high than before the date shift, due to frequent snowy and cold conditions at high altitude in March.|group="Note"|nat=ITA|team=

Only General Classification results and exclude Stages results.

The leader of the overall general classification receives a white and green striped jersey. There are also three other classifications. The winner of the points classification (sprints) wears a white and orange striped jersey, a white and red striped jersey for the winner of the mountain classification and the jersey of the Catalonia regional cycling team is for the best classified Catalan. There is also a team classification.