The Volta a Cataluña is a popular road bicycle race held annually in Catalonia, Spain. It is a part of the UCI World Tour program, ranking second behind the Volta a España in popularity for Spain. Due to its place in the riding calendar after the Giro d’Italia, it was long viewed as an important Tour de France preparation race for cyclists. After the inauguration of the ProTour, the race moved to May, making it an alternative for the Giro. This didn’t prove to be a successful change, and for the 2010 season, the race organization announced a move to late March, the date formerly held by another Catalan stage race, the Setmana Catalana. The first edition was held in January and lasted for three days.

The overall winner receives a white and green striped jersey. It is one of 28 races that make up the UCI World Ranking calendar. There are also three other classifications. The winner of the points classification (sprints) wears a white jersey, a red jersey the winner of the mountain classification and the jersey of the Catalonia national cycling team is for the best classified Catalan. There is also a team classification.

The Volta a Cataluña is the fourth-oldest cycling stage race in the world with the first edition held in 1911, only behind the Tour de France in 1903, Tour of Belgium held in 1908 and the Giro d’Italia in 1909. Only the amateur and sub-23 Volta a Tarragona started in 1908 is older than the Volta a Cataluña in Catalonia and the Iberian Peninsula.

While no Americans have won the Volta a Cataluña, the two closest riders I could find to an American winning is a favorite son of Ireland Sean Kelly who won the race twice in 1984 and 1986 and that crazy Ukrainian, Yaroslav Popovych riding for the Discovery Channel Team.