MADRID, 31 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The eighth edition of the ‘Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta 22’ event was presented this Tuesday at the Cantabria Festival Palace, in Santander, with five stages and a route “more demanding than ever”.
This edition will start on September 7 with a team time trial in Marina de Cudeyo and will end on September 11 in Madrid. It will have one more day of competition to reach the 5 stages and it will have a “more demanding than ever” route, explains the organization.
It will be the first time that the race is held in Cantabrian territory and it will do so with two full stages and a good part of the third. As was the case in 2021, the test will increase one day of competition to reach the five stages.
The official presentation of the route took place this Tuesday in Santander with the presence of Pablo Zuloaga, Vice President of the Government of Cantabria, and Javier Guillén, General Director of Unipublic. In total, five stages with very different profiles. An inaugural team time trial, mid-mountain days, an explosive finale and an opportunity for the sprinters in the already traditional final circuit of Madrid, coinciding with the last stage of La Vuelta 22.
The race will begin with a team time trial of almost 20 kilometers in the municipality of Marina de Cudeyo. A winding route that will decide the first carrier of La Roja. The second day will continue to run through Cantabrian territory with departure and arrival in Colindres. The cyclists will have to face a tough chain of ports, with up to five scoring ascents, two of them first category.
A stage for climbers, with the tough ramps of Campo la Cruz (3.2km at 8%) as the last challenge of the day. 17 days after hosting the start of the 7th stage of La Vuelta 22, Camargo will host the start of the 3rd day of the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta 22. The peloton will head to Aguilar de Campoo on a day with many ascending kilometers. Hoces de Bárcena (16 km at 3.4%) will be the main difficulty of the day, with a final third of the stage of constant ups and downs.
The fourth stage, starting in Palencia, will mark a new milestone in the race by becoming the longest stage in the history of the race. In total, 160 kilometers with a ‘leg-breaking’ first half and a flatter second section of the stage but with ascending final kilometers. The Segovia aqueduct will witness the passage of the cyclists towards the final cobblestone in the historic center.
To finish, the fifth stage will be held on the traditional urban circuit of Madrid, coinciding with the 21st stage of La Vuelta 22. The day for the great sprinters in the peloton.