El Berguedà will shine again in the Volta 2025
October 15 th 2024 - 10:54 [GMT + 2]
After the overwhelming success of last year's edition, the Volta will once again run through the Berguedà region.
The brilliant stage that took place just over six months ago between Berga and Queralt will have continuity, as the organisers have confirmed a stage in the 2025 edition that will once again run through the Berguedà region, starting from the capital of the region and finishing in Queralt, and will be held on Saturday 29 March 2025. The massive public attendance, the facilities provided by the local authorities and the spectacular images that went round the world have been decisive for the return of the race in the next edition.
Last March, Berga hosted, 60 years later, a start of the Volta and it did so in style, with an event that mobilised a public from all over the country who did not want to miss the opportunity to see the best cyclists in the world. The sporting potential of the stage, with a mountainous and unprecedented route and the participating stars, with the Slovenian star Tadej Pogacar at the front, were the best claim to attract a dedicated public that gave us some of the most powerful images of the last edition of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya.
In this way, the Volta 2025 will once again make a stay in Berguedà in a stage that will start in the city of Berga, and finish at altitude in the Sanctuary of Queralt. With the route to be determined and located on the penultimate day of competition, this stage will once again be one of the most spectacular of the next edition, thanks to the roads and passes of Berguedà that make it an ideal territory for cycling.
The town of Berga, with more than 16,700 inhabitants, will host for the twelfth time in its history a start or finish of a stage of the Volta (six times it has hosted the start and five times the finish), being 1947 the first time that the Volta was present. Its location in the centre of the region makes it the economic, social and cultural capital of the area.
For its part, the Sanctuary of Queralt made its debut in the last edition of the race as the final stage finish, an experience that will be repeated this year to once again provide us with some memorable views. The Sanctuary is located at the top of the Queralt mountain range, at an altitude of 1,200 metres, and is known as the ‘balcony of Catalonia’. The present church is a building constructed in the 18th century, and it is a place of great beauty to climb both on foot and, of course, by bicycle.
The sixth stage of the 2024 edition of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya will live long in the memory. The world champion and triple winner of the Tour de France, the Slovenian Tadej Pogacar, broke away 26.7 kilometres from the finish line just after reaching the top of the Collada de Sant Isidre. In this way he started the climb to Queralt alone, showing all his potential and leaving his pursuers Mikel Landa and the Colombian Egan Bernal 57 seconds behind, who came in second and third respectively. A memorable display by the Slovenian star that the public enjoyed throughout the mountain pass and that thrilled the press, media and public.
The mayor of Berga, Ivan Sánchez, was pleased to repeat the link with the Volta a Catalunya. ‘It had been too long since professional cycling had passed through Berga and Berguedà and, for us, it was important to take the Volta last year and give it continuity, at least one more year’. Sánchez also said that ‘we are happy to keep the format of start and finish because in 2025 it will be 50 years since the victory of Eddy Merckx in Queralt, in the time trial that was made from Casserres to Queralt. It is an important anniversary, and I believe that the events surrounding the Berga stage will serve to commemorate it’. The mayor of Berga referred to the clear commitment that the region is making to cycling and commented that ‘hosting a top-level event like the Volta is a showcase and an opportunity that we cannot let slip through our fingers’.
For his part, the president of the Regional Council of Berguedà, Ramon Caballé, said that ‘on the part of the Consell the commitment to cycling remains firm, with this stage we want to continue showing the privileged environment that has the Berguedà, passing through the high and low. Working together with the town councils and with consensus is key to achieving the goal of making the Berguedà more and more cycling-friendly every day’.
Rubén Peris, general director of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya was pleased to repeat the experience in Berga; ‘For the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya is always a joy to return to municipalities that have welcomed us with open arms, but in the case of Berga is even more magnified, after living one of the most exciting moments we remember in recent years. The facilities and involvement of the City Council of Berga and the Consell Comarcal del Berguedà, as well as the ability to mobilize fans who did not stop cheering the participants, giving us images worthy of the Tour de France, make us feel very fortunate to be able to repeat the Berga experience’.
The Volta Ciclista a Catalunya will celebrate its 104th edition between 24 and 30 March 2025 in one of its best forms ever. After a 2024 edition, the Catalan UCI World Tour race closed a stellar edition with the victory of world champion Tadej Pogacar and the presence of more than 200 accredited national and international media.
The television images that reached 190 countries and five continents thanks to the 33 broadcasters, made the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya have a worldwide repercussion and was the world cycling epicentre for a week.
