The Volta a Catalunya is the first WorldTour stage race of the season for Wanty-Groupe Gobert. It's the second time the team had received a wildcard for this seven-day race in the northeast of Spain.

The race consists of 1,238 kilometres and is never flat with 26 categorized climbs. Wanty-Groupe Gobert starts in Spain with Enrico Gasparotto, Francis De Greef, Marco Minnaard, Yannick Eijssen, Jérôme Baugnies, Tim De Troyer and Jan Ghyselinck.
Sports directors are Steven De Neef and Sébastien Demarbaix.

“If I look at the roadbook there might be three chances for a sprint. Danilo Napolitano returns from a collar bone fracture and Jérôme Baugnies can finish well on rough terrain. He proved that in races in Italy and Switzerland last season," says De Neef.

“Furthermore we want our riders to make the final step to reach peak form so we are ready for the important races in April." 

One of the key riders for Team Wanty-Groupe Gobert will be Yannick Eijssen. The Belgian already finished Ruta del Sol as 25th and completed two hard races in the south of France.  

“I was happy about those races as were the sports directors. I now just returned from a week of training in Spain where I did a lot of altitude metres." 

Eijssen rode the Volta a Catalunya in 2013 and 2014 as well. This year will be the first year he can ride the race for himself, and not as a domestique. 

“The depth of the entry list makes it a hard race. Froome, Contador, Valverde are all there. The hardest stage will be the fourth one where we'll climb to 2,000 metres. I feel I am stronger than previous years in Catalunya and therefore I start with ambition. I hope to reach the top-20 in the overall classification," he concludes.