Key Points:
· The 78th edition of the Spanish Grand Tour will start on August 26, 2023 with a team time trial of about 14 kilometers.
· It will be the second start from the county capital, after the one held in 1962.
· The stages will pass through some iconic places, such as Montjuïc or the Pabellón Azul along the coast, and through all the districts of the city.
From Utrecht to Barcelona. The councilor for sports of Barcelona City, David Escudé, the mayor of Utrecht, Sharon Dijksma, and Javier Guillén, managing director of La Vuelta, held a meeting on Friday morning to formalize the passing of the baton from Utrecht, the official start of La Vuelta 22, to Barcelona, set to host the official start and the first two stages of the 78th edition of the race starting on August 26, 2023. The first of them will be a team time-trial.
The ceremony was held on the start ramp of La Vuelta 22 a few hours before the start of the first stage of this edition. 372 days from now, the contenders of La Vuelta 23 will also face a first effort against the clock, with a team time-trial of about 14 kilometres.
The route of La Vuelta through Barcelona will highlight some of the most representative venues in the city like the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium, on the 31st anniversary of Barcelona 92. New areas will also be visited, such as the Pabellón Azul (Blue Pavilion), which will serve as the setting for the start of the first stage.
It will be the second time in the history of the race that Barcelona hosts an official start. The first occasion was in 1962. La Vuelta last visited the city 50 years later, in 2012, with a stage starting in Andorra and finishing in Montjuïc, where the Belgian Philippe Gilbert won.
“Finally, after 60 years, Barcelona will host one of the biggest international cycling competitions”, Escudé celebrated. He insisted that Barcelona loves cycling and challenges as well. The city is ready to be the world capital of cycling and to “mark a milestone in the history of La Vuelta”. “We want the whole city and all the neighborhoods and districts to be able to vibrate and participate in this great event, and for this reason, we are working on a circuit that follows this idea”, he added.
“I am very happy that Barcelona will take over from Utrecht,” said Dijksma. “I am also very proud that Utrecht is hosting the start of La Vuelta. This event is perfectly suited to our city, because cycling is in our blood. Every day we have up to 125,000 people cycling through our city. As a cycling city, we highly value health and sustainability and we have been investing in bicycle infrastructure for many years. It unites La Vuelta and Utrecht. I am sure that the same thing will happen in Barcelona”, she added.
For his part, the managing director of La Vuelta highlighted the “extraordinary satisfaction” offered by the start from Utrecht and the handover to Barcelona. “The quality of the cities that host the start of our event is something to be proud of. It is something that has happened this year with Utrecht and that will happen again next year with a great international city like Barcelona”.
The passage of La Vuelta through Barcelona further increases the international stance of the city as a world sports capital hosting major events with global repercussions. In addition to the sporting side, Barcelona will also be the home of key moments of La Vuelta such as the team presentation gala and the recording of the official spot of the event.
Following the official start from Barcelona, the peloton will head to Madrid, where it will arrive on September 17 after 21 stages and more than 3,000 kilometers of racing along a route that will be fully disclosed in a few months.
