San Mamés and the Athletic Club will, once again, share in their fans’ passion for cycling and, on the 6th of September, will host the 13th stage of La Vuelta 19 that will depart from Bilbao and end at Los Machucos. Monumento Vaca Pasiega. The departure is sure to be spectacular as the riders will not only take off from the esplanade that leads to the stadium, but will also ride around the field during the neutralised start.
In the 33rd La Vuelta departure from Bilbao, fans will be able to see their idols up close at San Mamés, thus repeating the experience of the Itzulia Basque Country 2017. Later, the peloton will enter the stadium through the parking and ride around the field once following the Race Director’s car, accompanied by two Shimano technical assistance motorbikes. The riders will leave through the San Mamés parking door and will re-join the neutralised route through different streets of the Vizcaya capital until they take the N-634 to Sodupe in order to finish at the Cantabrian mountain pass of Los Machucos (HC climb) 167 kilometres later.
A HISTORICAL RELATIONSHIP
La Vuelta features the support of the Bilbao City Council once again, in this new edition of the Spanish tour. A city, committed with sports in general and with cycling in particular, that has hosted La Vuelta (as a starting or finish line) a total of 74 times, thus reaffirming the commitment of the Basque passion for this competition.
The relationship of San Mamés and the Athletic Club with the world of cycling has been a close one for almost a century. During the 1920s, the team had its own cycling division, in which prestigious riders such as Federico Ezquerra wore the white jersey with the red stripe that identified this division for 5 years. The team was also one of the driving forces behind the Itzulia Basque Country. San Mamés stadium has actually already been the luxurious setting for two La Vuelta stage finales. The first was in 1960, with a partial triumph for the edition’s final winner, Franz de Mulder; and the other was in 1962, in a stage that determined the victory of German rider Rudi Altig.
