Watch all the action from the 2023 Volta a Catalunya from March 21-27 live on SBS VICELAND or catch up the next day with replays on
Australia has a small but talent-packed contingent heading to the 2023 Volta a Catalunya, the Spanish one-week WorldTour stage race renowned for producing tough battles in the mountains with some of the best pure climbers of recent years taking the overall victory.
Australian Grand Tour contenders Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citroen), Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious), Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) could well add their name to the prestigious honour roll. Also, new general classification talent Luke Plapp (INEOS Grenadiers) and young sprinter Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck) will be looking to mark their mark upon the race whose storied history stretches back to 1911.
Jack Haig (Bahrain Victorious)
The rangy climber isn’t confirmed for this race yet, but indicated that it would likely be on his schedule in an interview with SBS Sport ahead of Paris-Nice.
Haig was happy to switch himself to a super domestique role at Paris-Nice in service of teammate Gino Mader, helping his Swiss friend to fifth overall with a ride that showed good form, even if maybe not the exact result that the Vuelta a Espana podium finisher would have preferred.
It shapes as a major pre-Giro d’Italia test for Haig, with main rivals for pink in Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), Geraint Thomas (INEOS Grenadiers), Joao Almeida (UAE Team Emirates) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) all on the startline.
He’ll have Mikel Landa and Wout Poels for company if he does front up for the race, and they’ll likely be one of the stronger climbing teams at the race, but there are a lot of squads fronting up with the Giro squads in what shapes as a dress rehearsal for the Italian Grand Tour.
Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates)
Another rider eyeing the general classification at the Giro d’Italia is national time trial champion and Tour Down Under winner, Jay Vine.
His move to UAE Team Emirates was about stepping up in competition and level, and giving himself a chance to be one of the best general classification riders in the world.
He has shown that he has the ability, his victories in last year’s Vuelta weren’t your traditional breakaway wins, he did one from the peloton on the final climb, and was a marked man every other time that he put himself in any position to win, but still managed another win plus had a stranglehold over the mountains jersey before he crashed out of the race.
Vine started off the season with some superb results, but a knee injury has seen him sidelined for a while, with his preparation disrupted for his tilt at the Giro.
The Volta a Catalunya will be an important milestone, just to see if can recover himself to the point where he can look to challenge at the Giro on the general classification or move his ambitions to other goals.
Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citroen)
The West Australian isn’t Giro-bound, he’s off to the Tour de France for his French team, but he’s clearly opted to take a more varied approach to his preparation this year after a couple of years of establishing himself within the squad.
Staying out of France probably isn’t the worst idea as well, as leader of a French squad, O’Connor’s every movement is news in France, in Spain, and recently in Italy at Tirreno-Adriatico, not so much.
In Tirreno, O’Connor showed good signs but was a bit off his personal best and the level of the rest in the climbs.
However, the other signs were good, he performed well in the time-trial and was driving splits in the crosswinds.
The climbing form might be down to the fact that he’s a bit behind the level the Giro riders are working on and it was his first race in over a month, and he will be better for the outing coming in here.
There are stages that really suit O’Connor here, he thrives on the toughest days in the saddle and this will be an important race. He won stage 3 last season, another stage win would be a good return.
Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Dececuninck)
This is a tough race for Kaden Groves. Even as one of the better climbers out of the top sprinters there are perhaps two stages that could be approachable for victories for the Alpecin-Dececuninck man, stages 1 and 4, though those could equally be taken out from a breakaway.
The Queenslander is returning to the scene of his maiden WorldTour victory while at Jayco-BikeExchange. Now at Alpecin-Deceuninck, he’ll be looking to get off the mark in style, after not being too close to the win at the Tour Down Under or Paris-Nice in the bunch sprints.
A lot of that is down to positioning and the strength of his leadout train, but the good news is that he’ll likely be one of the better-supported fast men at the sprinter-unfriendly race, with only Bryan Coquard (Cofidis) and Hugo Hofstetter (Arkea-Samsic) present of the established sprint names.
In his only other Catalunya appearance, Groves was very impressive over the climbs, and his only Grand Tour win came in Spain at La Vuelta, so it’s a happy hunting ground for Groves.
Luke Plapp (INEOS Grenadiers)
Plapp is already an outstanding rider at the age of 22, a fact that we’ve seen in bursts over his neo-pro WorldTour season, on the track and in the Australian road race titles as back-to-back champion.
He stepped up again with a second overall at the UAE Tour in some impressive company, second only to Vuelta a Espana champion Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep).
It was an all-round performance that showcased his abilities in the crosswinds, mountains and time trial, and bodes well for his future.
He is unlikely to be the leader here, with Geraint Thomas building form for his Giro d’Italia push and likely in better shape than Plapp, while Egan Bernal will take to the line as he continues to build back from his horrific crash in early 2022.
The Australian is not a pure climber, maybe he goes more down that path in the future, but a number of these stages are really for the mountain goats so he would be taking a big leap even for his prodigious abilities to finish on the overall podium here.
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