PREVIEW | Volta a Catalunya 2025 stage 2 - Can Visma's British super talent do it again?

From the 24th to the 30th of March the World Tour peloton returns to Spain, more specifically Catalunya, for one of the most exciting and difficult stage-races in the calendar. The Volta a Catalunya is always a massive test for the climbers, but equally other riders will also get their opportunities. We preview stage 2.

Stage 2 should be another day for the sprinters but again there is a meaningful obstacle. There are a couple climbs in the middle of the stage that are decently hard, and if pushed it can certainly cause irreparable damage to the peloton. They will be 4.8Km at 5% and 7.7Km at 6.4%, the latter ending with 79 kilometers to go - still two hours of racing left at this point.

The road is not pan-flat then towards Figueres but there is no major obstacle and a bunch sprint is likely. This will be an interesting one though, not technical at all but with an uphill ramp to the line in the final 500 meters.

With Edward Planckaert and Tibor del Grosso both looking incredibly strong today, I think Alpecin has everything to deliver a perfect leadout and have Groves in the perfect position for the sprint. If they leave it to late, then it will be very hard to beat the Australian, even for a Matthew Brennan who looked mighty impressive today. The final uphill ramp to the line will not be easy, although not as hard as today it can certainly favour a few riders a lot, and keep the GC riders on their toes.

*** Kaden Groves, Matthew Brennan
** Corbin Strong, Dorian Godon, Marijn van den Berg
* Andrea Vendrame, Axel Laurance, Anders Foldager, Pavel Bittner, Nils Eekhoff, Stanislaw Aniolkowski, Ide Schelling, Ethan Vernon

Pick: Kaden Groves

How: Regular bunch sprint.