Mikel Landa will start his season at one of the oldest stage races in the world.

Three months before it will welcome the Tour de France for the start of the 113th edition, Catalunya hosts its most important race, one featuring three summit finishes which are sure to bring plenty of salt and pepper to the fight for the general classification.

This year, Volta a Catalunya once again gets underway from the seaside town of Sant Feliu de Guixols, but its main attractions come later in the week, when the peloton will tackle the mountain top finishes of Vallter, La Molina, and Queralt on consecutive days. And if that’s not enough, the final stage once again takes place over the famous Montjuic circuit in Barcelona – one last opportunity for those hoping to turn the standings on its head.

Runner-up here in his first season with Soudal Quick-Step, Mikel Landa is set to make his debut this year in Catalunya, and the experienced Basque is looking forward to the week: “I can’t wait to start my season there, in a race that I like and where I had some strong results in the past years. My goal is to take it one day at a time, see how things go and what I can do, and at the same time, build up my condition for the Giro d’Italia.”

Landa will be joined at the start by a strong team comprising Alberto Dainese, Pascal Eenkhoorn, Junior Lecerf, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Tour Down Under best young rider Andrea Raccagni, and Giro di Sardegna winner Filippo Zana.

It’s a typical parcours for the Volta a Catalunya, except for stage five, which is new.

“We’ll have everything, from an uphill sprint on the first day to possibly some other opportunities for the sprinters and from the hard summit finishes that come later in the week to the traditional Barcelona final stage. There will be two days with over 4000 meters of climbing and it’s there that the gaps between the contenders will open. We have more than one rider who can try something in the GC of this race, riders who are in good form as shown earlier this month, but we want to be involved also in the bunch finishes, so we are confident in our chances”, said sports director Geert Van Bondt.

Photo credit: ©Wout Beel

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