"The winner of Catalunya isn't necessarily the winner of the Giro" - Richard Carapaz looking to build form on road to Maglia Rose challenge

For Richard Carapaz, the early part of 2025 has been about one thing, building up his form for the upcoming Giro d'Italia. The latest stop off on this road, sees the EF Education-EasyPost leader competing at the ongoing Volta a Catalunya against his likely Maglia Rosa rivals in a few weeks, primarily Primoz Roglic and Juan Ayuso.

Although an overall win at the Volta a Catalunya this week would obviously be nice, Carapaz and EF Education-EasyPost are looking at the stage race more in context of the wider picture. "He's looking pretty good. He was pretty good in Tirreno, and he's probably stepped up a little bit since then. He would have a boost from the previous races. We have high hopes, but we'll have to wait and see," EF sports director Tejay van Garderen explains to Cycling News. "We're not putting a number on it. This is all in preparation for his Giro. It's important that he fights each day with the GC group and can gauge himself and measure himself. But the ultimate goal for him is the Giro."

As mentioned, many of the expected contenders for the Giro d'Italia are in Catalunya this week, offering the likes of Carapaz, Roglic and Ayuso a chance to measure each other up ahead of the coming Grand Tour. "The winner of Catalunya isn't necessarily the winner of the Giro, but it can obviously give you a gauge of what you need to work on," Van Garderen assesses. "Say if he (Carapaz ed.) is strong in the beginning but falters in the end, you might need to work more on his endurance base. I'm not saying that's the problem at all, but you have to run him through the tests and see what you can gather from it."

Already there was a slight scare for Carapaz as he was notable absent from the front bunch as it crossed the line on stage 1. Fortunately however, due to a mechanical issue inside the final 3km being the root cause of the time loss, the Ecuadorian was given the same time. "He was smart enough to let the commissaires know he had a bust wheel," comments Van Garderen.

And with a big, mountainous stage coming up this afternoon, it's the perfect chance for Carapaz to really test his climbing legs. "Catalunya visits La Molina often, so the guys will be familiar with it. They'll know how to gauge their effort," previews Van Garderen. "[But] you have to take these climbs individually and grab every opportunity you can; if you lose time, you don't get it back, the clock never stops. Wednesday is very hard throughout – 218km long and 5,000 metres of vertical climbing in March – that's definitely good Monument training!"