A clinical Jonas Vingegaard and a long list of riders MIA – Philippa York analyses the Volta a Catalunya

When I read through the start list for the Volta a Catalunya 2026 I was properly impressed. Everyone who likes to think of themselves as a serious GC racer was present. Everyone except for Tadej Pogačar, who was enjoying a separate program of Classics because he felt he saw a chance to fill in the few holes in his illustrious palmarès. We won’t see him in a stage race until the Tour of Romandie at the end of April.

Other than the world's number one ranked rider, all the big team leaders lined up for the opportunity to find out where they were in the hierarchy and, just as importantly, how the riders they would compete against in the coming Grand Tours were looking too.

There had been some form indicators during Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico but this Catalunya was one of the few occasions when all the players in the GC game were present. Jonas Vingegaard set the standard and, as the only one close to rivalling Pogačar, he was the obvious favourite. However, the number of guys with something to prove was rather large.

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Remco Evenepoel needed to rediscover the form that saw him crush everyone in January and February. João Almeida had to cement his place as a viable UAE Team Emirates-XRG option after a mixed early campaign, and Tom Pidcock hoped to continue his great results and carry that form forward into the hilly Classics.

For the riders who had changed teams, like Oscar Onley, this was a definitive moment, time to step up after the disappointments of Paris-Nice and build confidence. Up against Lenny Martinez, Florian Lipowitz, Ben O’Connor, Felix Gall, David Gaudu, Jai Hindley, and even his own team mate Carlos Rodriguez, the Ineos Grenadiers leader needed to be at the front of race and to be convincing. No pressure then.

Ineos fall flat, Evenepoel with his mind on the Ardennes

At least Ineos started with a bang, thanks to fellow new signing Dorian Godon, the French champion confirming that in a tough sprint after an equally hard day he’s one of the fastest. Doing the same again two days later whilst in the leader’s jersey proved he was that valuable asset: the sprinter who can survive the medium mountain stages. The final points classification victory was well merited.

However, the Ineos GC race never really happened. They tried to take control on the mountain-top finishes but Onley and Rodriguez weren’t able to challenge when things kicked off between the best climbers, and that has to be a concern.

Not being able to go with Vingegaard when he attacked is understandable but one of them ought to have been in the immediate chase group. The Scot was better on the last stage when it was the punchy inclines of Montjuic Parc, so the strength is there, it’s just his real climbing legs were missing on the longer ascents.

Remco Evenepoel found himself in a similar situation but managed the outcome better, though not to the level everyone expected – not quite as bad as the UAE Tour last month, but not the performance the management would have hoped for either.

Looking at how he raced the days leading up to the mountain stages, I can’t help but think this was more of a form test for how he would be in the coming Ardennes races than it was to measure himself against Jonas Vingegaard. In that sense, Catalunya would be judged a success as he was dynamic, strong, and present in the opening days, but then chasing not racing in the high mountains.

Red Bull had the strongest squad for that scenario, but they were relying on Lipowitz to finish things off when Remco was the pre-race leader. I doubt the team management were entirely happy but overall when it came down to the crucial moments they had the most riders present – they just didn’t have someone to rival Vingegaard.

Martinez and Paret-Peintre impress

Yet again, Lenny Martinez proved he is getting close to matching Jonas Vingegaard when the road goes uphill. We saw it at Paris-Nice and here in Catalunya the young Frenchman produced similar performances, matching Lipowitz, who let’s not forgot was on the podium of the Tour de France last year.

I think we can definitely say Martinez's campaign is going well and it won’t be a surprise to see him in the front group of the hilly one-day races in April. His next big GC moment is Tour de Romandie, where he’ll be racing against Pogačar, and though that might be another level higher again, it ought to be interesting. Bahrain Victorious have to be delighted with his progress and development. In terms of positioning and presence, Martinez is doing the right things.

That could almost be said for Felix Gall who lined up as the Decathlon CMA CGM leader and on the first mountain test was best of the rest behind Vingegaard. That performance moved him up to second on GC but then the next day he missed the Red Bull attack on the penultimate descent and paid the price of two minutes lost, which cost him a podium place.

However, the Austrian’s form wasn’t in doubt as, along with Martinez and Lipowitz, he had tried to anticipate the inevitable Vingegaard attacks. Ultimately, his positioning let him down, which is shame as Decathlon were strong generally and had Matthew Riccitello in the GC group too. A scan of the first few stages shows Gall wasn’t finishing near his rivals so that’s something he is going to have to improve on.

It would have been interesting to see how well Tom Pidcock performed in the bigger mountains as, up until his crash and subsequent abandon, he had been excellent. Considering he had ridden the almost 300km of Milan-San Remo and then come straight to Catalunya there were no apparent fatigue levels on show. The question of whether he would have climbed with Vingegaard and co remains unanswered but given his start to this season there’s no reason to believe he wouldn’t have been far from the front.

The case of Valentin Pâret-Peintre is an interesting one, just behind Lipowitz and in front of Evenepoel on the crucial GC days. He benefited from having a teammate after Red Bull attacked on the stage 6 final descent but he always looked to be at his absolute limit when he was climbing with the best guys.

In terms of uphill accelerations he has the classic little climber speed, but that comes with a limitation in that when he sits down his speed goes down, too. His 4th place finish was probably more than Soudal-QuickStep were hoping for and an indication of his tenacity. If or when he gains a bit more core strength then he might be rivalling his nemesis Lenny Martinez.

The riders MIA and the controlled superiority of Vingegaard

The list of 'missing in action', when they carried the hopes and prayers of their respective teams, is a fairly long one and not somewhere the riders concerned were expecting to be. We briefly saw Mikel Landa try to revisit past glories but he along with Ben O’Connor got blown out the GC race rather too quickly for comfort. The same could be said for Cian Uijtdebroeks, David Gaudu, who seems to have given up GC pretensions, and Enric Mas.

At least Lidl-Trek had Giulio Ciccone win the mountains classification and Mattias Skejlmose in sight of the best guys. Movistar and Groupama-FDJ United were pretty inconsequential most of the time. Things have moved on for them and not in a good way.

Unlike for Jonas Vingegaard. Two stages races, two GC wins and numerous demonstrations of climbing ability so far in 2026, matched only by Tadej Pogačar. This win wasn’t as dramatic as his Paris-Nice victory; it was much more controlled and clinical.

He did enough to distance his rivals when he sensed it was the time to strike and with that came the confidence that he could manage any situation that was thrown at him. Red Bull’s collective strength tested his Visma-Lease a Bike squad but Vingegaard was head and shoulders above everyone else when it came down to the crucial moments. Tactically he always seemed in control and, as you would expect of a multiple Grand Tour winner, he wasn’t ever in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The 105th Volta a Catalunya posed the question before the start: 'would anyone be able to live with Jonas Vingegaard?' The the answer by the time the race finished in Barcelona was a resounding 'no'.