Roglic takes the second duel at Montserrat
March 27 th 2025 - 18:31 [GMT + 1]
In the second chapter of their particular duel, Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) has taken the lead of the 104th edition of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya in its 4th stage, which was disputed on a 188.7 kilometres route between Sant Vicenç de Castellet and Montserrat. The Slovenian took the stage victory in the iconic abbey and conquered the leadership of the Catalan race ahead of Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), with whom they played again the victory in the sprint and with whom he is tied on time in the general classification with three stages to go.
151 riders took the start of the 4th stage of the Volta a Catalunya on Thursday 27th March, the second mountain stage of this edition with the Turó del Puig pass (2nd category) before the arrival at Montserrat (1st category), which returned to the Volta after 30 years of Laurent Jalabert's victory. The start of the stage was very hard fought. Fighting for the tight overall classification, Roglic himself has led the rider in the first intermediate sprint of the day, located in Manresa at kilometre 13, closing to just four seconds behind leader Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates).
Finally, after about thirty kilometres, a breakaway formed by twelve riders took the lead in this stage over the hilly terrain of the Catalunya Central: Lennard Kämna (Lidl-Trek), Johannes Staune-Mittet, Geoffrey Bouchard (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale), Brieuc Rolland, Lorenzo Germani (Groupama-FDJ), Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), Frank van den Broek (Team Picnic-PostNL), Embret Svestad-Bardseng (Arkéa-B&B Hotels), Jesús Herrada (Cofidis), José Félix Parra, Diego Uriarte (Team Kern Pharma) and Uruguayan Eric Fagúndez (Burgos-BH), who won the prize for the most combative cyclist.
At the Turó del Puig, which was crowned 63 kilometres from the finish line, the promising Norwegian Johannes Staune-Mittet (Decathlon-Ag2r La Mondiale) and the German Georg Steinhauser (EF Education-EasyPost), who was one of the great animators of the last edition of the Volta a Catalunya, stood out from their companions in the breakaway.
Steinhauser has finally been the one who has resisted the most to the head of the race, leading it alone until the last 3 kilometres of the climb despite the push of UAE Team Emirates. Defending Ayuso's first day of leadership, last year's winning team with Tadej Pogacar once again selected the group of favourites at the pace of Catalan Marc Soler, the race's number 1.
After that, Ayuso himself went on the attack 2.5 kilometres from the finish line, in a move that Primoz Roglic (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) was able to react to and eventually provoked a new sprint between the two to decide the stage victory and the lead. On this occasion, the prize went to the Slovenian veteran, winner of the Volta in 2023, who, thanks to the bonuses obtained at the finish and the sprint in Manresa, took the lead of the Catalan race tied on time with Ayuso, with third place for the Balearic rider Enric Mas (Movistar Team) 20 seconds behind. In this way, the Volta Catalunya arrives to its three final days.
The 5th stage will be this Friday, March 28, with a stage of total protagonism through the Terres de l'Ebre, with a 172 kilometres route that will link Paüls and Amposta that seems favourable for the fast riders who want to fight for the stage victory.
