The 2016 Volta a Catalunya was a road cycling stage race that took place in Catalonia, Spain, from 21 to 27 March. It was the fifth race of the 2016 UCI World Tour and the 96th edition of the Volta a Catalunya.
The race included seven stages. Two of these included summit finishes, so the favourites for the race were all climbers. Favourites for overall victory included Chris Froome (), Alberto Contador (), Nairo Quintana () and the defending champion Richie Porte (): the race was the first meeting of several of the riders expected to feature in the Grand Tours later in the season.
The first two stages were Nacer Bouhanni (). He then withdrew through illness on the third stage, which included the first summit finish. This was won by Dan Martin (), who took over the overall lead. Martin lost the lead, however, on the next stage, the second summit finish of the race, where Quintana won the stage and took over the overall lead. Quintana defended his lead over the following stage to take the overall victory, seven seconds ahead of Contador, with Martin ten seconds further back in third. Thomas De Gendt () won both the mountains and intermediate sprints classifications, with Hugh Carthy () winning the young rider classification. BMC won the team classification.
Route
The 2016 Volta a Catalunya included seven stages, all of which were road stages with no time trials. The first two stages were moderately hilly and were possibly suitable for sprinters. The third and fourth stage both included summit finishes. The third stage finished on the climb of La Molina, with the fourth finishing at Port Ainé. The fifth stage included a climb shortly before the finish, giving an opportunity for an attack, before another flat stage on the sixth day. The final stage finished on a hilly circuit in Barcelona.
Following the cancellation of mountain stages in both Paris–Nice and Tirreno–Adriatico in the previous weeks, there was some concern before the start of the race that the Volta might also be affected by heavy snow; the finish at Port Ainé still had of snow on the nearby ski slopes.
+Stages in the 2016 Volta a Catalunya Stage Date Course Distance Type Winner 1 21 March Calella to Calella Hilly stage 2 22 March Mataró to Olot Medium-mountain stage 3 23 March Girona to La Molina Mountain stage 4 24 March Bagà to Port Ainé Mountain stage 5 25 March Rialp to Valls Medium-mountain stage 6 26 March Sant Joan Despí to Vilanova i la Geltrú Flat stage 7 27 March Barcelona to Barcelona Hilly stage
Participating teams The race organisers invited 25 teams to enter the Volta a Catalunya. These included the eighteen UCI WorldTeams, which were automatically invited and obliged to enter a team. Seven Professional Continental teams received wild card invitations Each team could include eight riders. only included seven riders in their team, so 199 riders started the first stage.
Pre-race favourites
The race was expected to be decided on its two mountainous days and so was particularly suited for climbers. Cyclingnews.com described the list of favourites for victory at the Volta as "formidable" and as including "almost all the main contenders for both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France". Foremost among these was Chris Froome (), the reigning champion of the Tour de France. Froome's only previous race in the 2016 season was the Herald Sun Tour, which he won. Froome had a strong team that included two other possible contenders for overall victory: Geraint Thomas (who had won Paris–Nice) and Wout Poels (who had won the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana). Froome's form was, however, described by his directeur sportif as "an incognito", given the long period since his last race.
The prominent riders competing with Froome for overall victory included Alberto Contador (), the reigning champion of the Giro d'Italia; Nairo Quintana (), who was second in the 2016 Tour de France; Fabio Aru (), the reigning champion of the Vuelta a España; and Richie Porte (), the defending champion of the Volta itself. Other riders with a chance of high placings included Joaquim Rodríguez (), who had won the race on two previous occasions, and Dan Martin (), the 2013 Volta winner, as well as many other climbers.
On account of the mountainous terrain, there were few pure sprinters starting the race. The strongest sprinter who was present was Nacer Bouhanni (), who had been strong in Paris–Nice and had been close to victory in Milan–San Remo until his chain slipped.
Stages
Stage 1
21 March 2016, Calella to Calella,
The first stage of the Volta covered a course that started and ended on the coast in Calella; the course looped through an inland region and crossed several climbs. After first travelling along the coast, the riders turned north as far as Anglès, then turned west to cross the day's first climb, the second-category Alt de les Guilleries, followed immediately by the third-category Alt de Viladrau. As the roads turned back to the south, there was then a flat section before the biggest climb of the day, the first-category Coli Formic. After the descent came the second-category Alt de Montseny and the final climb of the day, the third-category Alt de Collsacreu. The summit of the final climb came with to the finish line, on a long straight road in Calella.
An early breakaway was formed by Lluís Mas (), Boris Dron () and Cameron Meyer (); they built a lead of over six minutes. From the climb of the Coll Formic, however, they were chased by Movistar and Cofidis; Meyer was the first over the summit to take the lead of the mountains classification, but they were caught soon afterwards. On the Alt de Montseny, Louis Vervaeke () broke away, with a six-man group chasing; meanwhile the main group split in two until Vasil Kiryienka (Sky) pulled the groups back together.
With remaining, Sky and Cofidis came to the front of the peloton to control the race for their sprinters. Björn Thurau attacked and was quickly brought back; Nicolas Roche (Sky) then attacked on a slight uphill section of road with approximately remaining and built a twelve-second lead. He was caught, however, by Tinkoff and Orica–GreenEDGE within the final . After Katusha led the peloton under the flamme rouge, Orica–GreenEDGE opened up the sprint with Simon Gerrans. Ben Swift (Sky) and Nacer Bouhanni (Cofidis) followed Gerrans and Bouhanni came past to win the stage. Swift was second, with Gerrans third.
Stage 2
22 March, Mataró to Olot,
The second stage was raced over a course from Mataró to Olot. The stage was generally flat, with two categorised climbs. The first of these was the third-category Alt de Can Bordoi after . The second was the first-category Alt de Els Angels; at the summit of the climb there were remaining. In the final , the roads rose again, although there was not a categorised climb and the final kilometres were flat. There was a 270° turn with just over remaining; after this the road was straight all the way to the finish.
Before the stage started, there was a minute's silence to acknowledge the bombings in Brussels that morning, with many riders – especially the Belgians – wearing black armbands. There was a four-man early breakaway that included two Belgians – Boris Dron () and Thomas De Gendt () – alongside Kamil Gradek (Verva ActiveJet) and Maxime Bouet (Etixx–QuickStep). Dron was first across both categorised climbs, with De Gendt winning both intermediate sprints and the associated bonus seconds. Dron fell away from the break with remaining; shortly afterwards De Gendt attacked alone. About later, however, he gave up on his effort, as Cofidis were chasing too hard in the main peloton.
In the final , there were several teams attempting to control the peloton – including Team Sky with Chris Froome sitting in second place in an attempt to keep him out of danger. Movistar moved to the front with remaining, with FDJ and Orica–GreenEDGE also at the front. In the final , however, Cofidis moved back to the front, with Geoffrey Soupe leading out Bouhanni. Bouhanni easily won the sprint, with Gianni Meersman () second and Philippe Gilbert (BMC) third. Bouhanni therefore extended his lead to 14 seconds ahead of Swift – who finished outside the top 10 – and De Gendt, who moved up to third thanks to the bonus seconds he won. Bouhanni revealed after the stage that he had been suffering from a sore stomach and had visited the race doctor.
Stage 3
23 March, Girona to La Molina,
The third stage included the first summit finish of the race. It covered a route from Girona to the La Molina ski resort. The route generally took the riders north-west, with four first-category climbs along the way. After passing through Olot, where Stage 2 had finished, the riders crossed the Alt de Coubet after . There was then a long climb to the Alt de Toses, the highest climb of the day, which came with to the finish line. After the descent, the riders passed through Alp, then began the first climb to La Molina, a climb at an average gradient of 4.2%, including a descent towards the top. The riders then descended back into Alp and repeated the climb; the finish of the stage came at the ski station itself.
The day's early breakaway was formed by seven riders: Julian Alaphilippe (), Koen Bouwman (LottoNL–Jumbo), Kévin Reza (FDJ), Johann van Zyl (Dimension Data), Jan Hirt (), Huub Duyn () and Alex Howes (Cannondale). On the day's first climb, Bouhanni lost several minutes due to his stomach illness; after he was over seven minutes behind the peloton and was forced to retire from the race. Howes and Duyn attacked the breakaway and had a 31-second lead going into the first of the two ascents of La Molina. During the climb, Pieter Weening (Roompot) attacked from the peloton and caught the two breakaway riders; almost immediately he attacked alone and built a gap. Meanwhile, Team Sky led the peloton with all eight riders, with Movistar close behind; they quickly caught Howes and Duyn. Weening had about a minute's advantage at the top of the climb.
During the descent, the peloton chased hard and reduced Weening's advantage to 30 seconds, with Sky still leading the peloton. Louis Meintjes (Lampre–Mérida) crashed shortly before the final climb began. On the climb, Louis Vervaeke attacked with remaining and passed Weening. Within the final , the peloton caught him and the peloton stayed together, led by Sky, as the road descended briefly before the final ascent to the finishing line. Wout Poels (Sky) attacked as the road began to rise, but was followed by Contador. Quintana attacked next and was chased by Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) and Contador. Richie Porte attempted to escape the group, but he was chased down by Froome. Quintana then attacked again and was followed by Dan Martin, who then passed Quintana and moved into the lead. Tejay van Garderen (BMC) chased, with Contador following, but Martin was able to stay away to the finish line. Contador finished two seconds back, with Romain Bardet () third and van Garderen fourth, all on the same time. With the bonus seconds, Martin moved into the overall lead, six seconds ahead of Contador.
Stage 4
24 March, Bagà to Port Ainé,
The fourth stage included the second and final summit finish of the race. It covered a route from Bagà to Port Ainé, with four categorised climbs on the route. The first climb came at the very beginning of the day's racing; it was a third-category climb whose summit came into the stage. There was then a long flat section – which passed through Alp again – before the special-category Port de Cantó. After a steep descent, there was a first-category climb, followed by a descent. The final climb to Port Ainé was at 6.8%.