Stage 3 - Volta Ciclista a Catalunya
The third stage of the "Volta" Ciclista a Catalunya, A.E. was a cold one, even with the altered route that kept us off the 2000-meter peaks and away from the alleged avalanche zones.
It didn’t do much to tone down this pack of top-notch climbers who were obviously itching to get into some harder climbs.
I got to take on some of those familiar roads around Girona again, but I can definitely say it was the fastest I’ve ever descended off the Col de Bracons!
I didn’t feel as strong as I’d hoped over the final climb but managed to rejoin the front group a few kilometers before the finish. Then a big crash tossed some chaos into the final moments.
Tomorrow’s stage will be a couple notches up from today’s regarding climbing and difficulty. Condition-wise, it will be another frigid one as we climb up to almost 2000 meters followed by a long downhill, which will likely include some icy, watery snow melt before a classic Catalunya finish at La Molina where the ski slopes are open and people will be looking at us wondering what in the world we are doing up there.