MADRID, 21 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Pontevedra redoubles its commitment to cyclocross and, after hosting the Spanish Championship in 2019 and 2020, it will host the European Championship in 2024, where the best in the world in this discipline will meet.
The announcement was made this Tuesday at the Higher Sports Council (CSD), where the athletes María Filgueiras and Miguel Gómez, representatives of Spain in this modality, were present. Pontevedra thus increases its commitment to cyclocross, in which it is a regular event in the Spanish Cup and which has already hosted the Spanish Championship in two consecutive editions.
The presentation was attended by the president of the CSD, José Manuel Franco, the president of the European Cycling Union, Enrico Della Casa, the president of the Real Spanish Cycling Federation, José Luis López Cerrón, the president of the Galician Cycling Federation , Juan Carlos Muñiz, the mayor of Pontevedra, Miguel Anxo Fernández, the provincial deputy, Gorka Gómez Díaz and the councilor of Deportes, Tino Fernández González.
José Manuel Franco described as “an honor” and “a pride” to “host the signing” of the award of the European Cyclocross Championship for a “magnificent city” like Pontevedra. “It is a very important bet and from here I want to congratulate all the agents involved: the City Council, the Provincial Council, the Spanish Federation and the Galician Federation. Sport is an important tourist attraction, it is not only competition, it is a tool that generates employment and wealth in our territory, a vehicle for transmitting healthy values and habits,” he declared.
For his part, the president of the European Cycling Union, Enrico Della Casa, commented that “it is a pleasure for the UEC to bring the European Championship to Spain and Pontevedra.” “It is a competition that was followed last year by eleven million spectators and that will surely be a very important event for the area at a tourist level,” he added.
José Luis López Cerrón stated that hosting the European Cyclocross Championship is “a pride for the whole country”. “This event will mean a new step in the growth of Cyclocross in Spain, an evolution clearly evident in recent years, both at the national calendar level and international results, and now hosting a World Cup in Benidorm and this Championship of Europe in Pontevedra that will delight many cyclocross fans,” he said.
The regional president, Juan Carlos Muñiz, recognized that it has been “a day of many emotions” for “signing the work done in recent years by the entire national cyclocross.” “Being able to bring the European Championship to Pontevedra is not only a success for us, but for all of Spanish cycling. It is the work of all the territorial federations hand in hand with the Spanish Federation. We were recently presenting that World Cup in Benidorm and today we can say that we will host a European Championship in 2024”, he completed.
The mayor of Pontevedra, Miguel Anxo Fernández, also looks very favorably on this important event that will come to his city. “We are delighted to host an event of this magnitude. Our commitment to sport is clear and to all the activity that it generates around it. Events of this type are always profitable and generate an important feeling of belonging”, he stressed.