Joseba Beloki, Iban Mayo and Haimar Zubeldia, first confirmed for the VI EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels&Resorts

 

                               

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With less than a month to go before the most important cycling event in southern Gran Canaria, registration is in its final stages. The race guarantees top-level professional cycling and a record number of participants, with over 400 riders from some 20 countries already registered. The EPIC Gran Canaria returns with a new edition, now integrated into the UCI International Cycling Calendar and serving as a qualifying event for the Gran Fondo World Tour.

 

 

Three-time Vuelta a España and Tour de France podium finisher Joseba Beloki returns to the EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts 2023, determined to wrest the title from Finland's Matti Helminen, who has led the race for three consecutive years. Beloki is a mountain specialist with 14 professional victories, three Tour de France podium finishes, one Vuelta a España podium, one Volta a Catalunya victory, and a brilliant career riding for teams such as ONCE-Eroski, Festina, and Euskaltel-Euskadi. The Basque cyclist returns to Gran Canaria as a special guest, adding even more excitement to this race, a meeting point for international professionals.

 

 

He will share the field with other invited professionals, such as the winner of the Alpe D'Huez stage, and of several stages in the Giro and the Tour of the Basque Country, Iban Mayo, in what will be his first EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts, and where he will have the opportunity to demonstrate that talent as a climber that took him to the top between 2000 and 2007.

 

He won't be the only cyclist known for his talent for conquering impossible climbs; Basque cyclist Haimar Zubeldia , winner of 29 Grand Tours and a top-10 finisher in the Tour de France, will also return to the EPIC Gran Canaria, determined to take on the challenge. Haimar Zubeldia was a prominent road, track, and cyclocross rider who earned numerous medals over a decade-long professional career. He debuted professionally in 1998 with the Euskaltel-Euskadi team and, after eleven seasons, signed with Astana in 2009. On the road, he excelled in several Grand Tours, finishing tenth in the 2000 Vuelta a España, eleventh in the same race in 2002, as well as fifth in the 2003 Tour de France, eighth in 2006, fifth in 2007, and sixth in 2012.

 

The sixth edition of the EPIC Gran Canaria will welcome a new addition, the influencer and Mr. Olympia Europe champion, Endika Montiel. Nutritionist technician, personal trainer and coach, with more than 236.000 followers on Instagram, Endika Montil takes on the challenge of this test alongside several of the legends of international cycling, determined to do the best she can and conquer the Gran Canaria summits.

 

The German Paralympic Team will also participate in this sixth edition , with a large representation on the island on February 11 and 12, 2023.

 

In this edition, the EPIC Gran Canaria will feel the absence of the first special guest of the event, the World Cup runner-up and Olympian Davide Rebellin, a loyal participant in this race in all its editions, who lost his life at the age of 51 in a road accident last November.

 

 

This year the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts arrives with new features and with the clear objective of opening the cycling calendar in style. The event has been designed as a great sports festival from start to finish, designed for the enjoyment of hundreds of participants and with the aim of bringing together the most select of this discipline on the island, highlighting its potential as a cycling destination. and showing the unique landscapes of several of its most popular routes.

 

The event will feature live streaming on Instagram, on-site interviews with the athletes, live music, a batucada (percussion ensemble), massages and a sports physiotherapy recovery booth, entertainment and new features along the route, and a communal paella to celebrate reaching the finish line. Participants will be able to enjoy Gran Canaria's unique climate, perfect for cycling, with safe roads and attractive routes, as well as discover Canarian products thanks to nods to island traditions at the aid stations. The EPIC Gran Canaria will offer special jerseys, gifts, and a dedicated team for the event, including more than a dozen motorcyclists and up to fifty volunteers, a red carpet finish line, and the RIU Palace Maspalomas hotel fully committed to this international cycling event.

 

 

The EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resort will warm up its engines from Friday, February 10 with the first meeting of the athletes, collection of numbers and a round table with the guest stars of this edition that professionals and cycling fans can enjoy.

 

Pre-EPIC: February 10

 

In this sixth edition, the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels&Resorts is more than a competition, betting on adding and enriching this sport with some of its protagonists. The preEPIC once again invites amateur participants and cycling lovers to the Hotel RIU Palace Maspalomas on February 10 so that they can get closer to the professionals and learn their stories and anecdotes. This previous day was born by popular request and has been consolidated as a prelude to the event, where a talk will be held to talk about cycling, sports, and successful professional trajectories with the invited professionals.

  

First stage: February 11

 

The first stage of the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels&Resorts, a 115-kilometer race with two timed sections, will be held on February 11.

After registration, the ride will start at 8:30 a.m. from the Maspalomas Dunes viewpoint at the RIU Palace Maspalomas, following one of the island's most popular cycling routes. The route, starting at the foot of the Maspalomas Dunes, passes through Arteara, Fataga, Tirajana, and El Pajar before reaching Pasito Blanco.

 

The first timed section of this stage runs from Aqualand to Ayagaures, finishing atop the Pedro González climb in a 12,3-kilometer time trial at an altitude of 470 meters . The cyclists will have to contend with a 460-meter elevation gain and an average gradient of 4,4%, with a cut-off time of 50 minutes.

 

The second time trial will start from Pasito Blanco and climb to Ayacata, a challenging 45-kilometer ascent to an altitude of 1.304 meters, with a total elevation gain of 1.038 meters. This stage has an average gradient of 4,7%. The time trial will pass through El Pajar, Cercados de Espino, Soria, Barranquillo Andrés, the Las Niñas dam, and culminate at the summit of Ayacata. This second section has a cut-off time of 2 hours and 30 minutes, with refreshments available in the Plaza de Ayacata, which will serve as a gathering place for all participants in a grand celebration of sport with entertainment and live music.

 

Second stage: February 12

 

The second stage, taking place on February 12th, is fast and dynamic, a burst of energy with a single timed section. This 75-kilometer stage features a 22-kilometer uphill time trial that will be crucial in determining the podium finishers.

 

Starting from the RIU Palace Maspalomas hotel, participants will head towards the competitive stage that runs from the Mirador viewpoint, passing through Fataga to Tirajana , with an altitude of 925 meters, a vertical drop of 810 meters, and average gradients of 4% . After completing the timed section, the cyclists begin the descent on one of the island's most popular cycling routes, exclusively for the EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts.

 

This neutralized section is a downhill ride designed for enjoyment, passing through Santa Lucía, La Era, Vecindario, Doctoral and Bahía Feliz along the GC-65 and GC-500, to meet again at the hotel where the great sports festival and awards ceremony will begin at noon.

  

Teamwork

 

For its VI 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 and Turismo Gran Canaria, and within the framework of the European Island project. Sport, GSG Cycling Wear, Free Motion, Hospiten, Coca Cola, AquaBona, Maspalomas24h, La Estrella, Esenat.