The first ever reference to the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya appeared in an article published in Catalan sports daily newpsaper El Mundo Deportivo on October 13, 1910, reporting that members of the Club Deportivo Barcelona, the race’s first organisers, had held a meeting to decide on its basic structure and route. The article also commented that given the poor state of the roads, it would be impossible for ‘La Volta’, as it is often called, to reach the northern city of Girona that year (La Volta now regularly visits Girona and will do so again in 2015). A first prize of 500 pesetas (3 euros in modern currency) was later confirmed, and the first edition of the race, held the following January over three days, was won by local rider Sebastian Masdeu, despite losing one of his shoes in a flooded road and being dropped by his rivals on the last stage. Fast forward 115 years and la Volta, now the third oldest stage race in the world, boasts some of the biggest names in professional cycling on its list of winners. Amongst them are Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckx and Miguel Indurain, whilst Miguel Poblet, one of Spain’s most versatile all-rounders, holds the record of 32 stage victories. Running from Monday March 23 to Sunday March 29 this year’s race will consist, as it has done for several editions, of seven stages, with the first starting and finishing in the coastal town of Calella and the last concluding in Montjuic Park, Barcelona. With no individual or team time trial, the mountainous and hillier stages will - once again - almost certainly decide the overall outcome. The hardest stage, to the ski resort La Molina, is a 200-kilometre slog through the Catalan Pyrenees with at least one Special Category and one First Category climb. Another crucial stage will be the last, culminating with the usual seven laps of a very hilly 6.1 kilometre circuit through the Montjuic park in Barcelona. The stage, particularly if it is rainy like last year, invariably splits the peloton apart. Last year’s overall winner Joaquim Rodríguez (Team Katusha) is certain to be a top favourite if, as expected, the Catalan all-rounder takes part. And following one of his few defeats last March at the hands of Rodríguez, Alberto Contador (Tinkoff-Saxo) will be itching for sporting revenge in one of Spain’s top three stage races.