The Volta a Catalunya 2012
The 91st edition of the Volta a Catalunya is scheduled by the end of March 2012. The event is scheduled from March 19th to March 25th in Barcelona and all the major cycling teams are eying the fifth biggest race of the season.
A total number of 23 teams will ride the Spanish race and the winner will be awarded with a hundred UCI points. The second and the third place holders will earn 80 and 70 points respectively.
It is the third oldest cycling race with its first version back in 1911. It is only behind the Tour de France (started in 1903) and the Giro d’ Italia (started in 1909).
Spanish rider Sebastià Masdeu succeeded during the first edition of the race while Michele Scarponi of Italy claimed victory during the past season.
Mariano Canardo holds the honour of winning it for a maximum number of seven times.
The final teams have now been announced and the full squad is as under.
Team Ag2R La Mondiale
Nicolas Roche, Guillaume Bonnafond, Romain Bardet, Ben Gastauer , Mikael Cherel , Sebastien Minard, Anthony , Ravard and Amir Zargari.
Astana Pro Team
Janez Brajkovic, Paolo Tiralongo, Andrey Kashechkin, Robert Kiserlovski, Egor Silin, Francesco Gavazzi, Alexandr Dyachenko and Sergey Renev.
BMC Racing Team
Tejay Van Garderen, Martin Kohler, Steve Moravito, Mathias Frank , Mauro Santambrogio, Ivan Santaromita and
Johann Tschopp.
Team Euskaltel-Euskadi
Samuel Sanchez, Mikel Nieve, Miguel Minguez, Jorge Azanza, Victor Cabedo, Pierre Cazaux, Ivan Velasco and
Amets Txurruka.
Team FDJ -Big Mat
Sandy Casar, Kenny Elissonde, Fracis Mourey, Arnold Jeannesson, Cidric Pineau, Thibaut Pinot, Jeremy Roy and
Jussi Veikkanen.
Team Garmin-Barracuda
Daniel Martin, Alex Howes, Christian Vandevelde, Ryder Hesjedal, Sebastien Rosseler, Tom Danielson, Tom Peterson and Peter Stetina.
GreenEdge Cycling Team
Allan Davis, Michael Albasini, Fumiyuki Beppu, Julian Dean, Daryl Impey, Brett Lancaster, Christian Meier
and Daniel Teklehaymano.
Katusha Team
Denis Menchov, Juan Horrach, Gatis Smukulis, Petr Ignatenko, Timofey Kritskiy, Alberto Losada, Yuriy Trofimov and
Maxim Belkov.
Team Lampre-ISD
Damiano Cunego, Leonardo Bertagnolli, Matteo Bono, Denys Kostyuk, Manuele Mori, Marco Marzano, Daniele, Pietropolli and Morris Possoni.
Team Liquigas-Cannondale
Ivan Basso, Paolo Longo, Fabio Sabatini, Timothy Duggan, Alessandro Vanotti, Maciej Paterski, Cristiano Salermo and Sylvester Szmyd.
Team Lotto-Belisol
Jurgen Van Den Broeck, Fracis De Greef, Mehdi Sohrabi, Kenny De Haes, Jurgen Van De Walle, Brian Bulgac , Dennis Vanendert and Gaetan Bille.
Team Movistar
Alejandro Valverde, Javier Moreno, Vladimir Karpets, David Arroyo, Sergio Pardilla, Nairo Quintana, Branislau Samolau and Marzio Bruseghin.
Team Omega Pharma-Quick Step
Levi Leipheimer, Michal Golas, Kevin De Weert, Dario Cataldo, Serge Pauwels, Frantisek Rabon, Kristof Vandewalle and Marco Bandiera.
Team Rabobank
Robert Gesink, Luis Leon Sanchez, Steven Kruyswyk, Wilco Kelderman, Grischa Niermann, Tom Jelte Slagter, Laurens Ten Dam and Stef Clement.
Team Radioshack-Nissan
Andy Schleck, Tiago Machado, Ben Hermans, Thomas Rohregger, Laurent Didier, Mattew Busche, Jakob Fuglsang and Oliver Zaugg.
Team Sky Procycling
Bradley Wiggins, Richie Porte, Davide Apolonio, Kastantsin Sivtsov, Rigoberto Uran and Xabier Zandio.
Team Saxo Bank-Sungard
Daniel Navarro, Benjamin Noval, Juan Jose Haedo, Chris Anker Soerensen, Bruno Pires, Jesus Hernandez, Luke Roberts and Rafal Majka.
Team Vacansoleil-DMC
Matteo Carrara, Kenny Van Hummel, Thomas De Gendt, Stefan Denilf, Tomasz Marczynski, Jacek Morajko, Martijn Keize and Rob Ruijgh.
Team Andalucia
Gustavo Cesar, Jordi Simon, Jose Luis Cano, Jose Vte. Toribio, Sergio Carrasco, Adrian Palomares, Jesus Rosendo and Javier Ramirez.
Team Caja Rural
David De La Fuente, David De La Cruz, Julian Sanchez, Antonio Piedra, Javier Fco. Aramendia, Andre Cardoso,
Aitor Galdos and Marcos Garcia.
Team Cofidis
David Moncoutie, Nicolas Edet, Samuel Dumoulin, Remy Di Gregorio, Luis Angel Mate, Yohan Bagot and
Romain Zingle
Team Project 1T4I
Huguet Yann, Matthieu Sprick, Johannes Fröhlinger, Thomas Damuseau, Roger Kluge, Thierry Hupond and Yukihiro Doi.
Team Saur-Sojasun
Cyril Bessy, Anthony Delaplace, Brice Feillu, Fabrice Jeandesboz, Maxime Mederel, Julien Simon, Jean Marc Marino and Stephane Poulhies.
It will be interesting to see how the Volta a Catalunya unfolds as the peloton is all set ride the oldest Spanish race scheduled on Monday.
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