The whole world of cycling turns to Barcelona where the preliminary operations already started ahead of the start of La Vuelta 23, on Saturday. The city will resonate with cycling, not only through the professional race and the team presentation, but also with many activities dedicated to the public. This historic start will also see a historic participation for South-American riders from Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Uruguay and Venezuela.
La Vuelta 23 kicks-off: “It’s a great opportunity for Barcelona”
On Wednesday, three days before the first in-race pedal strokes, David Escudé (Barcelona’s Councillor for Sports) and Javier Guillén (General Director of La Vuelta) inaugurated the race headquarters and the press room of La Vuelta 23, in the sports complex La Mar Bella. “Almost 2.000 people will come through this facility in the coming days”, Guillén explained as he shared his “delight to be in Barcelona, a great city where we wanted to come and that has wonderfully welcomed us.” Escudé stressed the importance of such an event for a city historically linked with great sporting events: “We can’t wait to see tomorrow’s team presentation and then, on Saturday, to see the riders start from the seaside. It’s a great opportunity for Barcelona to be on the world’s map through sport. We wanted to make the sport closer to the people and the opening team time trial will visit many different boroughs. These images of the city will be seen all around the world.”
Barcelona vibrates with cycling
Building on its rich cycling tradition, Barcelona will be in full swing these days with the start of La Vuelta 23, especially - but not only - during the race and already on Thursday, with the team presentation held on Thursday from 9 P.M. in Plaza del Mar. A building as emblematic as the Torre Glòries, visited on stage 1, will be illuminated in the red colour of La Vuelta on August 24, 25 and 26, a spectacle that can be seen from 9 P.M. to midnight. On Saturday and Sunday, Passeig Lluís Companys will host Parque Vuelta, the area dedicated to fans where they can enjoy activities, exhibitions and shows for the whole family. In addition, some municipal sports facilities will join the party during the weekend, with two special cycling sessions outside the Centre Esportiu Municipal Bac de Roda, on Rambla Guipúscoa, where registered riders will practise their favourite sport while watching the international cycling stars pass by just a few metres away. Barcelona also hosts La Vuelta Junior, allowing young kids from the local cycling clubs to ride the last metres of stage 1 on Saturday afternoon, just a few hours before the pros.
La Vuelta starts in Barcelona, like in 1962
This start of La Vuelta 23 from Barcelona brings an almost unprecedented event. Although Barcelona has hosted more than 50 stages of La Vuelta in its history, starting from the first edition in 1935, the start of the Spanish Grand Tour had only been held in the Catalan capital on one occasion: in 1962, kicking-off the 17th edition of the race. That year, La Vuelta began with a short stage of only 92 kilometres, on the Montjuïc circuit, which will also decide the winner of the second stage of La Vuelta 23. Following the tradition of showing the emblematic sites of Barcelona, the race went through the architectural museum Pueblo Español. The first leader was the Basque cyclist Antón Barrutia, who claimed one of his five stage wins in La Vuelta by beating the Irishman Seamus Elliott in the sprint. French icon Jacques Anquetil was riding La Vuelta for the first time in a bid to become the first winner of the three Grand Tours, a feat he eventually achieved in 1963 after Germany’s Rudi Altig won the 1962 edition.
South-America’s diversity shines in La Vuelta 23
Riders from across the Atlantic have shined for decades on Spanish roads, especially thanks to the iconic “Escarabajos”, but the 78th edition of La Vuelta sheds a new light on South-American cycling with a historic participation. After Burgos-BH announced their team on Wednesday, Eric Fagundez is set to be the third Uruguayan champ to participate in the Spanish Grand Tour, following the path of Fabricio Ferrari (2 participations in 2013, 2017), and Hector Roldan, who rode La Vuelta with Reynolds (now Movistar) in 1980. Four decades ago, Colombians were ubiquitous, with trailblazers such as Giovanni Jiménez (first participation in 1974), iconic teams like Café de Colombia and Postobon, and a first overall winner, Lucho Herrera, crowned in 1987. The next year, 32 Colombian riders started La Vuelta from Santa Cruz de Tenerife, with a newcomer by their side, Elio Villamizar… who was born in Colombia but raced for Venezuela. With stars such as Egan Bernal and Sergio Higuita, Colombians are still set to lead the way in La Vuelta 23 but riders from Argentina (Eduardo Sepulveda), Ecuador (Jonathan Caicedo, Jefferson Cepeda), Venezuela (Orluis Aular, wearing the national champion jersey) and Uruguay (Fagundez) are in Barcelona for Saturday’s start.
La Vuelta Virtual for all
ROUVY, the indoor cycling app dedicated to providing real routes around the world for indoor cyclists, launches a new series of races under the official banner of La Vuelta Virtual. Participants will be able to experience the thrills, sights and emotions of the Spanish Grand Tour with ROUVY’s realistic, high quality video routes, closely following the real-world parcours ridden by the pros, with races and recon rides. Fans from all around the world can take on three different levels of racing, depending on their fitness and goals, and they will be rewarded with the official virtual jerseys of La Vuelta, as well as virtual coins to be spent on your avatar and in-app equipment, and real-world bundles of ROUVY apparel, bidons and towels. Indoor cycling hardware brand Zycle will also be supplying some of its innovative products as prizes. "La Vuelta is a unique event and shares the same spirit of adventure and excellence as ROUVY", Petr Samek, CEO of the indoor cycling app, said.
Aquaservice limits the use of plastic in La Vuelta
For the third year in a row, Aquaservice partners with La Vuelta as the company implements its dispenser system in order to limit single-use plastic bottles that result from water consumption during the competition. Aquaservice, a leader in the field of water dispensers in Spain, has helped La Vuelta become in 2021 the first Grand Tour with such an initiative. Last year, it avoided the consumption of more than 190.000 single-use bottles, which amounts to almost 3 tons of plastic. In 2023, the company introduces a special bottle dedicated to La Vuelta, maintaining water at a fresh (for 24 hours) or hot (12h) temperature.
