The thousand runners who will participate on June 26 will have to face the ascent to seven ports
MADRID, 23 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Vitoria cycling tour returns on its 40th anniversary with a demanding route of 204 kilometers and 3,400 meters of elevation gain, in which the thousand runners who will participate on June 26 will have to face the ascent to seven ports, the organizers announced this Wednesday in their Official presentation.
Three years later, one of the classics on the Álava cycling calendar, the Vitoria Cycle Tour, returns to the road after the break due to the pandemic with a demanding route that will crown seven mountain passes (Urbasa, Iturrieta, Korres, San Román, La Aldea , Herrera and Zaldiaran) and will cross five of the seven Cuadrillas de Álava.
Registration, with prices between 62 and 80 euros for federated and non-federated riders and with a 10 percent discount for groups of a minimum of 10 cyclists, is now open until June 23.
Promoted and organized by Ascentium, the Vitorian Cycling Society and Fundación Vital, the start of the cycling tour will be at 8:00 a.m. from the Mendizorroza car park towards the north of the province that will cross, among others, the Ullíbarri- Gamboa, the port of Urbasa, the Montaña Alavesa and the Izki Natural Park until reaching the Rioja Alavesa.
From that milestone, the ascent to Puerto de Herrera will begin and before concluding the test, the peloton will climb Zaldiaran from the county of Treviño to finish in the capital of Alava. The organization has arranged four refreshment points in Puerto de Urbasa (kilometer 77), Maeztu (115), Alto de La Aldea (137) and Puerto Herrera (165).
The presentation ceremony, held at the Sala Vital Fundazioa Kulturunea in Vitoria, was attended by Luis Ruiz, from the Vitorian Cycling Society; Axier Urresti, executive director of the Vital Foundations; and Eduardo Martínez, director of Ascentium Sports Events.
Luis Ruiz, from the Vitorian Cycling Society, has appealed to the history of the event, born on a biannual basis as a preparation ‘test’ for the mythical Luchon-Bayona, with 325 kilometres, 5,800 meters of unevenness and 26 hours of pedalling, and which became annual, “with a contrasting personality and hardness that place it among the most respected in the gran fondo calendar”.
“The Vitoria Test represents a jewel and allows you to pedal and start a conversation with people from other provinces. We try to make the participants feel comfortable, safe on the road and never alone throughout those 8 hours and a half that it will take to travel through our Perhaps this is the best legacy that Mr. Jesús Ibisate -historical promoter of the event- has transmitted to us throughout its 60 years of history: Give a human and personal quality to all the participants”, he said.
The executive director of the Vital Foundations, Axier Urresti, has pointed out that adding its support to this event for the first time and as the main driving force means reinforcing the “commitment to popular sport with an event that perfectly combines tradition, a sporting challenge demanding, but developed in a close environment”. “And that offers a great opportunity to get to know our roads and towns, the enormous biodiversity that surrounds us and those places in our Territory where cycling enthusiasts train,” he added.
For his part, Eduardo Martínez, director of Ascentium, has highlighted “the phenomenal challenge and responsibility involved in organizing a test of the trajectory of La Vitoria”. “It is a test that, despite bringing together a large number of cyclists, maintains that close and familiar atmosphere that those who compete in it appreciate so much. It is its essence and for another year the object is to preserve it and make its participants enjoy their passion, taking care all the details that an event of these characteristics requires. We are working to enhance a test that has one of the most beautiful routes on the national calendar,” he said.