The Grand Tour specialists heading to the Volta a Catalunya this March will face a difficult mountain challenge and a series of very punchy, hilly stages that will test their climbing form.

The 2022 Volta route, announced this week, will not feature a time trial, unlike in 2021, and instead will likely feature two summit finishes deep in the Pyrenees to determine the overall race winner.

The erratic climb to La Molina on stage 3 has become a familiar feature of the Volta a Catalunya route in recent years. And 24 hours later, another Pyrenean ski station, the Boi Taur, returns on the route for the first time in 20 years and will be the final challenge of the queen stage of the 2022 edition.

After that, the biggest challenge for the overall leaders will be the traditional and very punchy seventh stage through the Parc Montjuïc in Barcelona on the final Sunday.

The 2022 Volta will begin on Monday, March 21, with a new starting point in San Feliu de Guichols. Stage 1 is an out-and-back hilly course through the Gabárez Mountains.

The second stage will finish in Perpignan, a city in northern Catalonia, and the third stage will return to the Pyrenees.

Weather permitting (as the risk of route changes due to snowfall is always a concern for the Volta heading into the high mountains in late March), the three first-class mountains on stage 3 are likely to spark the Volta's first major GC battle.

Still, the climb of the Bois Taur on stage 4 is by far the most difficult of the Pyrenean climbs and is likely to be a decisive move for the overall winner. With a total length of 14km, the steepest at the base, followed by a steady gradient of around 5-7%, Bois Tauru was a regular course for the Volta in the 1990s. Its last appearance in a Catalan race was at the top of a mountain time trial in 2002.

Stage 5 will take the riders south to the coastal town of Vilanova i la Gertrud, where a group sprint is likely to take place, followed by a breakaway group in the hills of southern Catalonia on Saturday.

However, the climb up to Montjuïc Castle on stage 7 is a short, very technical circuit that will take place six times.

This year's Volta includes last year's winner Adam Yates and teammates Richard Carapas (Ineos Grenadiers), Nairo Quintana (Arkea Samsic), Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo Visma), and the last three-time Volta winner before his retirement. Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and other stars are scheduled to compete.