Madrid (EFE) revolutionize the test and that will allow Spanish cycling to face the other two great races on the calendar.
A definitive step towards the emancipation of the women’s round with respect to the men’s, since it has a new name, public presentation, new format, a 7-stage route with the participation of 24 teams and, in addition, with a 90-minute television broadcast.
In this way, the women’s Tour takes a leap in quality and takes its first steps together with the other two major stage events, the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia.
At the moment the Spanish round will consist of 7 stages, one of them a team time trial that will leave the Las Salinas natural park, the same space from which the Cycling Tour of Spain started in 2019 and with a route very similar to that of the boys.
The second and third stages will cover the province of Alicante, the fourth between Cuenca and Guadalajara, and the last three in the north with a final party in a symbolic place like Lagos de Covadonga, a hilltop finish next to Peñas Llanas. The organization, faithful to its style, seeks a design that helps maintain the excitement until the last km.
La Vuelta is equated to Tour and Giro
Spain will equal France and Italy with the birth of a test that is also included in the women’s World Tour calendar. The Giro, which has been held since 1988, is the oldest and now the most prestigious, and will have 10 days of competition between June 30 and July 9.
The Tour de France will be run in eight stages, from July 23 to 30, just after the men’s version. This career has had ups and downs in its trajectory. Now he has resumed the race known as Grande Boucle and the bet is to consolidate the brand that gives greatness to the men’s event.
The economic problems turned the Tour into an amateur event, although professional teams ran it, in the period 2001-2006, and in 2004 it was not even disputed. Its loss of prestige condemned it to category 2.2 in its last three years until its last edition in 2009.
ASO, the organizing company of the Tour de France, decided to bet on the female version, with the same name and with a World Tour category.
A revolution in 8 years
La Vuelta had its seed in 2015 with the Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta, a one-day race that opened in the capital for the men’s Vuelta a España. In 2018 and 2019 the competition was increased to 2 stages under the name of Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta, and even reached 3 days.
The development of the Vuelta continued in 2021 with four stages and a finish away from Madrid, specifically in Santiago de Compostela, equated to the men’s sector. In 2022 there were already five days and in 2023 the revolution arrives. La Vuelta, with its own name, moves the dates to May and will be the first big one on the calendar.
