This year, La Vuelta will feature KAS as its official soft drink and supplier. The soft drink brand, originally from the North of Spain, lends its support to cycling, showing that the legacy of the mythical KAS team lives on.
Ex-cyclists Joseba Beloki and Beñat Intxausti, triathlete Saleta Castro and youtuber cyclist Ibon Zugasti will accompany the brand throughout the race. The four local KAS ambassadors will be in charge of bringing competitive cycling closer to the general public. Proof of this is the meet and greet with Beloki and Zugasti that may be attended by those who participate in the brand’s Instagram raffle. The winner, along with a person of their choice, will attend stage 18, to be held on the 2nd of September between the Asturian municipality of Salas and the Alto del Gamoniteiro. This will be an opportunity to meet and chat with the Spanish cycling figures. During this meeting, they will enjoy the stage from an official La Vuelta vehicle that follows the peloton and will even complete part of the route in the organisation’s helicopter.
“The KAS team was a global reference, in part, thanks to its achievements in La Vuelta. Between 1966 and 1969, it won three consecutive podiums, including an overall victory for Patxi Gabica, which is why it is an honour to preserve its legacy and represent the brand in its new commitment to this sport. Besides, I think it’s beautiful to see how they’ve placed the fans right in the centre of it all, encouraging us to connect with those who live cycling with the same enthusiasm as Joseba, Saleta, Ibon and I do”, said Beñat Intxausti.
“For us, supporting La Vuelta 21, as we did with Itzulia Basque Country and the Clásica de San Sebastián, means reconnecting with something that is truly ours – like cycling in the North of Spain. With this milestone, KAS tops off a year in which we have tried to revive the passion for this discipline – a discipline that forms part of the history and roots of the brand, since the famous yellow team was created”, says Natalia Suazo, Director of the Drinks Category in South-Western Europe.
KAS AND THE HISTORY OF SPANISH CYCLING
“The history of Spanish cycling makes no sense without KAS. It is a unique brand, with a clear connection to cycling and to La Vuelta. This link between them has allowed it to preserve its essence since the 1960s until today, and we will work together to continue to maintain it”, said Javier Guillén, General Manager of La Vuelta.
The KAS team was born in Vitoria in 1958 thanks to the Knörr family, at that time the owner of the soft drink company. Its first few victories were followed with three decades of competing, making it a reference in Spanish cycling. But the most notable aspect was the love of cycling that it inspired in its followers. This legacy, continues to live on today in the minds of athletes and fans who became emotional following the victories obtained with the KAS jersey, as if it were their own.
This passion for cycling, so characteristic of KAS, permeated into thousands of homes and today, over six decades later, continues to do so thanks to the PepsiCo brand’s support for the 2021 cycling calendar. The creation of a new “team” of local ambassadors made up of Joseba Beloki, Beñat Intxausti, Saleta Castro and Ibon Zugasti; the sponsorship of such important races as the Itzulia, the Clásica San Sebastián and La Vuelta as well as the rest of the initiatives that have taken place have served to build a legacy that still has so much more to offer.
