Human Powered Health line up in Catalunya, an autonomous region of Spain, for the three-day stage race Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Femenina from June 6 through 8.
Now in its third year, the 2.1 race brings its toughest route to date with two hilly stages and a mountaintop epic sandwiched in between.
In-form climber Barbara Malcotti leads the team and will be backed up by Carlotta Cipressi, Wiktoria Pikulik, Marit Raaijmakers and Katia Ragusa.
The stage 2 finish atop the 20 km Coll de Pal will be crucial, but the race length means that stages 1 and 2 will be just as fiercely raced. Catalunya and the preceding Tour of Pyrenees are ideal competitive platforms before the Giro d’Italia Women and Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift.
How to watch
USA
FloBikes
Stages 1 & 2 from 10:30 am ET / 9:30 am CT / 8:30 am MT / 7:30 am PT
Stage 3 from 7:30 am ET / 6:30 am CT / 5:30 am MT / 4:30 am PT
UK
TNT Sports/Discovery+
Stages 1 & 2 from 15:30 BST
Stage 3 from 11:30 BST
Europe
Eurosport/Discovery+Stages 1 & 2 from 16:30 CET
Stage 3 from 12:30 CET
Marit Raaijmakers is a key element of the stage racing squad and will once again be backing up the leaders on the road. Her impressive displays at the Vuelta la Femenina show she is in good form for another Spanish stage race.
“Volta Catalunya is known for its climbing. With Barbara, we can play for a very good GC, so the stages are exciting,” says Raaijmakers. “As an all-round athlete, I like to do all sorts of races. In the Vuelta, I was comfortable in my climbing form. And after a few weeks of training in Spain, I’m confident I can be a good help to Barbara for her GC ambitions.”
A lot of skills go into that, and the key roles of a domestique can’t go understated.
“As a domestique rider, I love to read the races, position and help on the descents,” she explains. “Barbara is a great climber, so she won’t need me for the finish. But, she needs me to be her daredevil,” she jokes (but with a deal of truth). “Depending on how the race is run, I might sneak myself into a sprint. But the main focus is for Barbara to save every second.”
Raaijmakers has also been integral to squad results. Her stage 7 performance in the Vuelta helped propel the team into the top five of the team GC rankings.
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya Femenina Stage by Stage
6/6 Stage 1 | El Perelló – Reus (114.4 km) Medium Mountains
A three-day race means action from the start, and Catalunya packs 1,638 meters of climbing into stage 1. The Coll de Guix, Coll de Porrera and Coll d’Alforja will soften up the peloton before the run-in to Reus. 5 km at 4.6%, the final Coll d’Alforja climb could also be a launchpad for a solo victor with a select group likely to have emerged by this point. There are 28 km to the line with another steep ramp to contend with in the closing stages.
6/7 Stage 2 | Bagà – Coll de Pal (72.9 km) Mountains
It may only be 73 km in length, but almost a third of the stage 3 epic is the brutish finishing climb of the Coll de Pal. 19.1 km at 6.8% makes it one of the longest climbs of the year with a continuous gradient. Made for pure climbers who can hold a consistent rhythm, the mountain has only been used on five occasions, with the last being in 2005. It will more than likely crown the champion.
6/8 Stage 3 | Castelldefels – Barcelona (114 km) Rolling
A rolling stage with 1,127 meters of climbing that tops out at the Alt de Begues before dropping down into Barcelona, the heart of Catalunya. Opportunists can take advantage of shattered legs from stage 2 in a bunch sprint on the stunning Avinguda de la Reina Maria Cristina beneath its twin Venetian towers at the junction to the Plaça d’Espanya.
While the stage racing team takes on Catalunya, the rest of our athletes compete in a tripleheader of Belgian one-day races. The gravel-laden Antwerp Port Epic Ladies, Dwars door de Westhoek, where sprinter Daria Pikulik makes her return to racing, and GP Mazda Schelkens.
