Joseba Beloki joins the starting line of the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels&Resorts
The EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts adds one more cycling star to its starting line, prepared for February 11 to 13 with Joseba Beloki, who will be part of this edition as a special guest.
Joseba Beloki, born in the Basque Country, was one of the most relevant Spanish cycling professionals of the 2000s, a podium finisher in the Tour de France and a reference for the discipline at the national level.
A specialist in climbing and a great individual time trial runner, the summits of Gran Canaria could be a new challenge for Beloki, who climbed to the podium at the peak of his career in the Tour de France in 2000, 2001 and 2002, champion in the general of the Volta a Catalunya and third in the Vuelta a España 2002.
The cyclist from the Once-Eroski, Festina, Euskatel Euskasi teams, among others, will share the ranks with other invited professionals, such as the world champion Abraham Olano, to whom new surprises will be added soon.
This call for the EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts returns just a few months after the previous one due to the mandatory changes caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, it recovers its usual dates in February with a new participation record, 300 runners in the first 24 hours of registration.
Registrations already include participants of 15 different nationalities, among them the Finnish champion Matti Helminen who will seek to retain victory for the third consecutive year and returns to the EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts and who will travel to the island determined to win the trophy again home.
Two stages to test resistance
Between February 11 and 13, the EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts will hold a first stage of 115 kilometers and two timed sections and a second of 75 kilometers and a time trial.
Departing at 8.30:XNUMX a.m. from the Mirador de las Dunas de Maspalomas at the RIU Palace Maspalomas, the first stage and star event of the competition will take athletes to one of the most popular cycling routes on the island. The route starts at the foot of the Maspalomas Dunes and from this emblematic and iconic point it will run through Arteara, Fataga, Tirajana and El Pajar to Pasito Blanco.
This stage has its first timed section from Aqualand to Ayagaures, with the finish line at the Pedro González summit in a time trial of 12,3 kilometers at 470 meters of altitude to test the legs, resistance and strength of the runners. Cyclists will have to fight against a gradient of 460 and an average inclination of 4,4%.
The second of the trials will be from Pasito Blanco on its way up to Ayacata, 45 kilometers of challenge at 1.304 meters high, with a difference in altitude of 1.038 meters to polish the climb to the most sought-after podium of the cycle tourists on the island. This section has an average slope of 4,7%. This time trial will pass through El Pajar, Cercados de Espino, Soria, Barranquillo Andrés, the Las Niñas dam and will culminate at the top of Ayacata.
The second of the stages, with a single timed section, is 75 kilometers long and has a 22-kilometer time trial. Departing from the RIU Palace Maspalomas hotel, participants will head towards the competition section that goes from Mirador, with a route that passes through Fataga to Tirajana. This section has an altitude of 925 meters and a gradient of 810 meters, with average slopes of 4%. With the end of the timed section, the cyclists begin the descent through Santa Lucía, La Era, Vecindario, Doctoral and Bahía Feliz along the GC-65 and GC-500, to meet again at the hotel.
Teamwork
For its V edition, the EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts is sponsored by RIU Hotel & Resorts, the City Council of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, the Cabildo of Gran Canaria with the Tourist Board and within the framework of the European Island project. Sport, AVIS Canarias, Coca Cola, AquaBona, Maspalomas24h, La Estrella, Sonocom, Free Motion, Phisiorelax, Esenat, Fund Grube.