Tour of Catalonia 2024: The most important facts in brief
- Date: 18 - 24 March 2024
- Distance~ 1200 kilometres, 7 stages
- StartSant Feliu de Guixols, GoalBarcelona
- Profile: three mountain finishes, four hilly stages
- UCI category: World Tour
- Premiere: 1911, 103rd edition
- Last year's winner: Primoz Roglic
- All information about the track, TV broadcast & live stream
- Results of the Tour of Catalonia 2024
The TOUR favourites by stars*
* Nairo Quintana, Lenny Martinez, Geraint Thomas
** Cian Uijtdebroeks, Enric Mas, Simon Yates
*** Egan Bernal, Mikel Landa
**** Aleksandr Vlasov, Sepp Kuss
***** Tadej Pogacar
* The more stars a driver receives, the stronger he is rated
All eyes on Tadej Pogacar
Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) will contest his first stage race of the season at the 2024 Tour of Catalunya. After his spectacular 80-kilometre solo at Strade Bianche and third place at Milan-San Remo at the weekend, the two-time Tour de France winner is the firm favourite on the roads of Catalonia. The Slovenian, known for his offensive riding style, wants to remain true to himself this week:
It's a difficult parcours and it definitely looks like a race for the climbers and attackers. So I think the fans will have a good show and a nice week of racing - Tadej Pogacar ahead of the Tour of Catalunya
Pogacar has a nominally outstanding team at his side: Joao Almeida, Jay Vine, Marc Soler, Pavel Sivakov and even Felix Großschartner could easily take on the captaincy in other teams. At UAE, however, they will be busy this week protecting their boss Pogacar and fending off attacks from the competition.
Visma | Lease a Bike sends Sepp Kuss and Cian Uijtdebroeks
Among the challengers, Team Visma | Lease a Bike deserves special mention. In the absence of Jonas Vingegaard, the Dutch team will be sending Sepp Kuss, the winner of the 2023 Vuelta a Espana, and Cian Uijtdebroeks, arguably the biggest talent for tours at the moment. Kuss is likely to act as captain and Uijtdebroeks as co-leader to try and put in pinpricks.
On paper, the Ineos Grenadiers team, which has Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal at the start, is almost as strong. However, after a leisurely start to the season at the Tour of the Algarve (65th place in the final classification) and Strade Bianche (71st place), no miracles should be expected from Thomas. The situation is somewhat different for Bernal.
Following his serious training accident at the start of 2022, the Colombian has returned to the top of the world rankings - although he is still a few percentage points short of his former class. However, seventh place at Paris-Nice and third place at O Gran Camino show a very clear upward trend that could continue in Catalonia.
Aleksandr Vlasov leads Bora-Hansgrohe in the 2024 Tour of Catalonia
Speaking of Paris-Nice, it was not the new superstar Primoz Roglic who set the tone for Team Bora-Hansgrohe, but Aleksandr Vlasov. The Russian won a stage in the long-distance race in France and finished 5th overall. In Catalonia, he is the man for the overall classification. He has a strong line-up with Sergio Higuita, Ben Zwiehoff, Florian Lipowitz, Frederik Wandahl, Anton Palzer and Cesare Benedetti.
Simon Yates (Team Jayco-AlUla) has also been in good form this year. The British mountain specialist triumphed in the AlUla Tour at the beginning of February, after which he was slightly ill. Normally, the Tour of Catalunya's parcours would suit an explosive rider like Yates very well and he would deserve one more star. However, due to the question mark behind his current form, the 2023 Tour de France fourth-placed rider only gets two stars.
Volta Cicilista a Catalunya 2024: Nairo Quintana's European comeback
Let's move on to the Spanish team Movistar. The Pamplona-based team is traditionally particularly motivated at the Tour of Catalonia. This year, Enric Mas and Nairo Quintana are leading the team. Quintana, who has been riding for Movistar again since this year, is contesting his first race in Europe after more than a year and a half. Accordingly, the 34-year-old has lowered his expectations and made it clear that Mas will be the captain for the 2024 Tour of Catalonia.
However, the Mallorcan Mas has not yet achieved any notable results on the road this season that would give him hope of overall victory in Catalonia. In his only race at Tirreno-Adriatico, he only managed twelfth place overall.
Soudal - Quick Step: Free ride for Mikel Landa
Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) will also start with ambitions. The Spanish fans' favourite does not have to take Remco Evenepoel into consideration, as the Belgian is not at the start, which means Landa has a clear run.
Last but not least, we have a youngster on our list: Lenny Martinez (Groupama-FDJ). The 20-year-old Frenchman won the Trofeo Laigueglia at the end of February and took another victory ten days earlier at the Classic Var in France. Having already been among the front runners in the mountains at the 2023 Vuelta a Espana, Martinez could also play a role in the 2024 Tour of Catalunya.
