MADRID, 20 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The director of La Vuelta a España, Javier Guillén, plays down the importance of the 2023 Cycling World Championship being held before the Spanish round, since the cyclists who “come to win” the big races without reserving, and for this reason have decided to raise “the level of intensity and spectacularity” in the course of this year’s edition in which he wants to have “the best”.
“A grand tour winner comes to win the grand tours and does not come to win the World Cup. And those who can win the World Cup, except this year of course, by Remco Evenepoel, who won La Vuelta last year and then the World Cup , they focus on him”, declared Guillén this Tuesday after the presentation of the jerseys of La Vuelta 2023.
The novelty this year is that the World Cup will be in August and before La Vuelta, which begins at the end of that month, a circumstance that the organization “does not like”, since the “natural” thing is that the fight for the rainbow jersey is at the end of the season, but they have found a way to counter it.
“We have raised the level of intensity and spectacularity. That is why we have made a route that tries to have many elements from the point of view of what the designs of La Vuelta are,” said the director of the national round.
Guillén thanked the Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), three times winner, for his confirmation of participating in the race, since he is one of the “most important runners” in its history. “The double goes through La Vuelta, Giro-Vuelta or Tour-Vuelta and hopefully Roglic will show this again because he is undoubtedly coming to what is his race. For us he is one of our riders and now what we have to see is who is going to accompany him in this competition for the red jersey of the return”, he confessed.
One of the attractions this year will be the presence of Juan Ayuso (UAE), the young Spanish promise, who has just won two stages in the Tour of Switzerland and who could fight for the podium in the ‘big’ Spanish one. “La Vuelta is an international race, but the game of having a Vuelta is a Spanish challenge because in some way it gives it a lot of encouragement. As a director, I always want the best, I don’t care about nationality, but if among the best we have a Spaniard better than better”, he argued.
Regarding the last winner, the Belgian Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), he said he had “no information” that he would come to La Vuelta, but he did not have the “opposite” either. “I have high hopes that he will come, but today we cannot confirm this information because it obviously corresponds to the team and the rider,” he explained.
On the other hand, Guillén showed his solidarity with the Swiss Gino Mader, who recently died in the Tour of Switzerland, but believes that the security debates “must not be ‘hot'”. “I prefer that the debate be calm, but it is also true that every time there is an accident we have to analyze what has happened. Unfortunately, and this is no consolation for anyone, there will always be accidents and there will be time to make the necessary adjustments “, he remarked.
Finally, the director of Unipublic was “extraordinarily happy” with the reception of the recent Women’s Tour and the “unbeatable” attitude of the runners that made it a success. “We are very happy with the response of the institutions, the sponsors and also the public, and now we need the event to grow together and for this I also want to ask for the commitment of the media”, he concluded.