On Monday, Caja Rural - Seguros RGA line up at Volta a Catalunya with high ambitions. This is the second World Tour stage race the team takes part in this month after the debut in Tirreno-Adriatico last week.
 
The following eight riders have been selected to represent the team in the Spanish race: David Arroyo, Carlos Barbero, Sergio Pardilla, Eduard Prades, Lluis Mas, Antonio Molina, Javier Aramendia and Hugh Carthy.
 
Sports director, Josemi Fernández said: “This is our first World Tour race in Spain this year. It’s very important for the team. It’s a strong field but we will try to be protagonists once again, showing off the jersey like we did in Tirreno-Adriatico”.
 
This year’s Volta a Catalunya is very mountainous with only one flat stage for the pure sprinters. The first big fight amongst the GC riders will be on stage 3 with the uphill finish on La Molina. The queen stage of the race comes the following day where the riders finish on Port Ainé. The ascent up to the ski resort is 18.5 km long and has an average gradient of 6.8 % with several parts of double-digit gradients on the final kilometers. The other four stages of the race are all very undulating, suiting the Caja Rural - Seguros RGA riders well.
 
Carlos Barbero said: “The level of the riders in the race is very high, which means the pace will be high as well since all the team leaders want to be at the front. I have trained very well these last three weeks and I aim to be up there fighting for the win in the finishes that suit me”.
 
Volta a Catalunya runs from the 21st to the 27th of March.