For the first time in the history of cycling, the riders will start a big stage round from a marine platform. It will be on Saturday, August 26.
The second stage of the Spanish round will end in front of the Estadi Olímpic and on Thursday, August 24, the participating teams will perform at Plaça del Mar with a great popular party.
The Vuelta a España 2023 will start on Saturday August 26 from a maritime platform which will be located at the end of the beach of the somorrostro touching Port Olímpic. The participating runners will start from that place to carry out a 14-kilometre team time trial that will cross the heart of Barcelona, in what the joint organization between Unipublic, owner of the race, and the city council of the Catalan capital, consider more of a sporting spectacle. that a decisive stage of the race.
As reported this Wednesday by the sports councilor of the Barcelona City Council, David Escudethe maritime platform, which will be transparent, will be installed on six sail skids, which will be over the waters of the Mediterranean. The most secluded part of the beach has been chosen, due to the waves, in the area known as the Forbidden Beach. In the unlikely event that that day there is a maritime situation with rough seas that prevents the installation of the platform, a plan B is planned.
The habit of the race
La Vuelta has distinguished itself in recent years for starting the race or going through singular places in the first stage, normally an individual or collective time trial. Thus, for example, they passed through the bullring in Pamplona, or left a Galician raft, from the stairs of Burgos Cathedral, or crossed the famous Arenas of the French city of Nîmes.
Now it is the opportunity for Barcelona with the idea that it be the sea, the same Mediterranean that in 2024 will host the Copa América, which will take center stage in the birth of the Vuelta. Runners will access the platform for a 40 meter walkway, which will cross the beach. On the other, it will be the one they will start from, already in competition, before heading onto the asphalt down Marina street. The runners will pass by the most emblematic monuments of the Catalan capital, similar to how the marathon. The show will obviously be free, so thousands of people are expected, taking into account that the inaugural stage of the race will be held on the last Saturday of August.
Hard end of the second stage
The second stage, which will leave Matarówill end next to olympic stadiumin the same place, although with a different and harder layout, in which the Barcelona stage of the 2009 Tour ended. This Wednesday the final phase of this stage has been covered by some old figures of Spanish cycling, such as Oscar Pereirowinner of the 2006 Tour, or Fernando Escartinthird in the 1999 Tour, with the extra prize of having climbed Tibidabo by bike, accompanied by ex-professionals such as kiko garcia and a group of cyclists from Barcelona.
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It will be quite a hard day, since it will include the ascent to the Castell de Montjuïc. “The normal thing is that one of the favorites for the final victory of the race wins and, at most, there will be 40 riders who will play for victory,” he explained. pereiro after recognition. In addition, the organization has decided to reward the passage through the castle in seconds, before a descent and a small ascent towards the outskirts of the Olympic Stadium.
In addition, I shielded has reported that the presentation of teams will also be a popular event that will be held free of charge in Plaça del Mar on Thursday, August 24, around 7:30 p.m., once the final schedule for this event is adjusted with TVE. The Vuelta a España will end in Madrid on Sunday, September 17.