- Stage town for the 6th time
- Capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia. Spain’s second largest city
- Population: 1,670,000 (Barcelonais and Barcelonaises)
Spain’s second city was the birthplace of the country’s oldest stage race. Created in 1911, the Volta a Catalunya was launched by the weekly sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo, which later became a daily. Mariano Cañardo holds the record for Tour of Catalonia titles (1928-29-30-32-35-36-39), although he only won a single stage of the Tour de France, in 1937 at Ax-les-Thermes. However, two of his successors managed to win the Tour de France in the same year as the Volta. Miguel Induráin achieved this feat in 1991 and 1992, while Tadej Pogačar won the final stage on the hill at Montjuïc during his victory in 2024.
