Montserrat monastery to host stage finish of 2025 Volta a Catalunya cycling race

Catalonia's most famous mountain will be one of the highlights of the 2025 Volta a Catalunya cycling race. Montserrat will host one of the stage finishes planned in the championship to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of the monastery.

Montserrat monastery, celebrating its millennium anniversary for 15 months, will host the last part of a cycling stage for the third time ever, after the 1960 and 1995 events.

This will be one of the "most spectacular and unique stage finishes in the Volta a Catalunya race," a statement released on Thursday reads.

"The mountain, the sanctuary, the monastery, the Escolania choir are all of the elements that make Montserrat one of the most beloved elements across Catalonia and internationally recognized," the organizers of the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya said.

In fact, the Escolania Choir has been named among the best singing groups in the world.

"For the organizing team, aside from symbolism this mountain represents, it is also a logistic challenge as around 800 people are involved in the cycling race, as well as many vehicles," Rubèn Peris, general director of La Volta Ciclista, said in a written statement.

"What we certainly have is that the photos we'll shoot will travel across the world and will be remembered for their beauty and specularity," he added.

The first race the monastery saw was in 1960 from Monistrol to the abbey, won by Mallorcan cyclist Antonio Karmany, and then in 1995, starting in Manlleu, won by French Laurent Jalabert. All taking place in a religious symbol in Catalonia.

The race will happen between March 24 and 30 next year, but details of the stages have yet to be announced.

Filling the Sink podcast

Montserrat is a natural wonder, a rocky mountain range that rises from the plains of central Catalonia. It's a holy place, home to La Moreneta, the Virgin of Montserrat, and a Benedictine Abbey with a history stretching back one thousand years. It is also home to one of the oldest boys' choirs in the world, and soon it will also have a mixed group.

While former US president Barack Obama and former first lady, accompanied by the Spielberg marriage, visited the abbey, prior Bernat Juliol even recommended to filmmaker Steven Spielberg to record a movie on the monk that traveled across the world as if it was Indiana Jones.

Listen to our Filling the Sink podcast episode published in May 2021 to learn more about the Escolania and the multi-peaked mountain range.