PREVIEW | Volta a Catalunya 2025 stage 6 - Juan Ayuso and Primoz Roglic have 1 second apart into queen stage
Cycling
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 6.
*NOTE: Due to bad weather, the Coll de Pradell was removed from the stage.
Stage 6 has a summit finish at Queralt, which comes in a day with six categorized climbs including a special category halfway through the day. A new challenge that should seal the overall classification in what is a short day of racing. However, despite having only 154 kilometers in distance, there are a whole 3800 meters of climbing.
Early in the day they are not too hard, they are slight ascents that are rather inconsistent, featuring false-flat roads and some slight ascents where groups can go up the road. However there won't be too much relaxing time. The descent off the second one leads directly into the brutal Coll de Pradell.
This climb is brutal. 14.7 kilometers at 6.9%, it's one of two halves. The first 7 kilometers are at a constant 5-6%, then there is a small descent even, and then the final 6 kilometers which average 10% average. In here, the grades go up to a crazy 18% and it's not a short ramp. This ascent is the hardest of the race and could blow the entire race apart, ending with 60 kilometers to go.
A long descent follows - with a small hilltop in the middle which leads into climb number four of the day - when it comes to the categorized ones. It's 4.9 kilometers at 8.8% which ends with 28 kilometers to go. Another very hard climb where attacks can happen, however it is possible that some riders will still wait for the final one.
After a set of rolling roads the riders return to Berga but head into the Santuario de Queralt. It is not the hardest climb of the day, but after so much fatigue it can still make serious differences. 6 kilometers at 7.3%, it will be a proper and scenic finale to a brutal day of racing.
The Weather
Crosswind on the big climb and tailwind on most of the penultimate climb... There's a good chance that the medium-strength wind will encourage a few to make a move.
The Favourites
Juan Ayuso - The UAE man is back in the race lead but of course, it is not a safe one. I'd say in a high mountains day like this, he is better suited than Roglic who is not as much of a pure climber. UAE have got the team to defend, but again he doesn't need that much, what he needs is to gain time on the Slovenian and just like Montserrat he is likely to try again.
Primoz Roglic - Roglic in the meantime can stay conservative and wait as late as possible. Giulio Pellizzari showed a very high level and should be able to protect him quite well, but Roglic can afford to just wait for any sprint and try to take back the lead through bonus seconds. It will be hard for him to make the difference here, so it's definetely the best strategy for him to play.
Spanish attack - We're talking about Enric Mas and Mikel Landa here. Both sit third and fourth, tight in the fight for the podium but also very close to the overall win. They hence may not want to risk a move from far, as the differences can be made in the final two climbs... But both men are pure climbers, who are most likely to be able to make the difference on the big climb of the day. It will be interesting to see if they will want to test both Roglic and Ayuso, and perhaps form an alliance with someone.
Lenny Martínez, still in the equation for overall victory, will also be a very dangerous man in a day with climbs this steep. The Frenchman has been in fine form and will be a very important rider to consider. Lennert van Eetvelt, Matthew Riccitello and Felix Gall (the latter out of GC contention) have also climbed very well in Montserrat and can take advantage of early attacks and a tactical race. Gall specifically has good reasons to attack from far, he shouldn't be marked.
Laurens de Plus, Egan Bernal, Simon Yates, Sepp Kuss, Richard Carapaz, Ben O'Connor, Juan Pedro López, Georg Steinhauser and Harold Martín López will all be riders to consider as well, in a different level of circumstances.
Prediction Volta a Catalunya 2025 stage 6:
*** Juan Ayuso, Primoz Roglic, Mikel Landa
** Enric Mas, Lenny Martínez, Felix Gall
* Matthew Riccitello, Juan Pedro López, Laurens de Plus, Egan Bernal, Lennert van Eetvelt, Sepp Kuss, Simon Yates, Richard Carapaz, Ben O'Connor
Pick: Juan Ayuso
How: A day that suits other pure climbers better, but I think the Spaniard will be in control and on the final climb can make the difference - besides matching others earlier.
Original: Rúben Silva
🚴♂️ Aquest és el 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭 de la Volta a Catalunya masculina 2025!
— Volta a Catalunya (@VoltaCatalunya) March 14, 2025
🗺️ ¡Aquí tenemos el 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐝𝐨 𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 de la #VoltaCatalunya 2025!
😍 The 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞 for #VoltaCatalunya104! pic.twitter.com/iwRRWNkADn
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- i wouldn't count Pogi out. Low probability of a win, but not impossiblemobk01-04-2025
- Right now it doesn't seem that his legs are there or that his head is in the racevappaxbipmv01-04-2025
- would have been nice to hear exactly WHY he thinks pog has zero chance in some greater detail. i mean, tend to agree that his chances aren’t GREAT, but some explanation from the expert with an opinion would be nice. MINE is that, in spite of the recon he did where tadej concluded that the course “wasn’t that hard” i think that doing the full route at full gas is really going to beat up pogacar’s 145lb body, to a degree that he maybe isn’t expecting. but hey, we’ll see in a couple weeks. like everyone else, i do think it’s supercool that he’s going.OCexile01-04-2025
- Go back to that era and look at the lousy mechanicals he's had at Paris-Roubaix. Take those away, maybe he has another Monument, Van der Poel has one less, and suddenly all the rules change. Those mechanicals preceded his awful crashes - and you're right, that Tour was amazing. Ventoux, TT, and Champs-Elysees?! Something that Pogacar and Van der Poel can't do, just Wout. It still amazes me.RidesHills01-04-2025
- Oh, the impossibility of this kind of comparison. A pre-WW2 Binda had amazing statistics, and that was one era. During what I think of as the romantic era, Poulidor had an incredible run at the Tour without winning, and Bobet won some grand tours and some Monuments. In this modern era (for me: after Hinault), we've had multiple Monument winners win a grand tour (such as Valverde and Kelly, with Kelly the better rider in general), and then we've got someone like Roglic, the true GC rider. Sure there was a Monument that was kind of a fluke (both Pogacar and Hirschi might have won, and twitchy Alaphilippe deserved relegation), but what matters are the 5 grand tours and all these wins across the 1 week GC races except for the Tour de Suisse (you'd think he'd race it to get the set of them all). In this era, since 2000 or so, maybe he meets the description as best non-Tour winner. How many GC riders have these wins and not the Tour? To compare to other eras really is not possible. He's his own unique rider, and it's been amazing watching him for the past many years. That's about all we can say.RidesHills01-04-2025
- Ease up on a brother!bobo01-04-2025
- Primoz finds ways to win. Too bad he'll never take Tour de France.awp01-04-2025
- I don't think I would ever count Wout van Aert out of a race if his head is in it. He is a serious talent.awp01-04-2025
- He's a great rider for sure, not sure if he the best to never win the Tour though.awp01-04-2025
- Hard to imagine that his confidence - that imperious flow state that great athletes operate in - hasn't been affected. But that is a different dynamic than the one you described. He has not become hesitant because he is fixated on his rival. He has suffered multiple traumatic injuries, and I have no doubt he is still 1% off both mentally and physically as a result. Football (both kinds) and basketball players who blow out knees go through a predictable cycle in which they are reluctant to do max efforts even after their doctors have cleared them. I myself went though a small version of that after a back injury. It's just hard once you no longer know where the line is. We saw in his TT a couple weeks ago that he still has power, and for all the hand wringing he is still finishing in the top 10-20 of big races. But as we have seen with others, getting *all* the way back is not assured. I'm not ready to say he is done, but few riders who have been hurt as often and as badly as him remain at the top.MidnightRider01-04-2025