The most popular cycling event in southern Gran Canaria, the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts , returns for its 2024 edition, taking on an international dimension. To celebrate the opening of registration for this year's event, which will be held between February 9th and 11th, 2024, the EPIC Gran Canaria Hotels & Resorts is taking an unprecedented leap forward, crowning the world champions at the Gran Fondo World Championship.
The seventh edition of the EPIC Gran Canaria opens registration in style, following in the footsteps of previous host events such as Styrkeproven (Oslo, Norway) 2018, Rollfast Gran Fondo (Carmel, Indiana, USA) 2019, Gran Fondo Encamp (Andorra) 2022, and Seorak Giant Gran Fondo (South Korea) 2023, to determine the winners of the world's premier cycling ranking for amateur and passionate cyclists. Gran Canaria will welcome the 2024 champions, while candidate events for 2025 are already being evaluated. The final choice will be the 719 Ride in Colorado Springs, USA; the Gran Fondo Kazakhstan in Taldykurgan, Kazakhstan; and the Amashova Durban Classic in Durban, South Africa.
The Gran Fondo World Tour offers non-professional cyclists the chance to enter a global circuit, with the option to participate in high-quality events on different continents. Rides can take you along the Galibier-Madeleine, through stages in Central Asia, across the hills of South Africa's Natal Zulu region, along the California coast, through the mountains of Korea, in the sunshine and climate of various cities in Spain, or through the landscapes of Norway. The Gran Fondo World Tour is a global ranking that brings together a series of unique events to form a major international circuit.
The EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts will feature two exceptional cycling stages, traversing some of the island's most popular routes. The first stage covers 115 kilometers and includes two timed sections . Starting from the Mirador de las Dunas de Maspalomas at the RIU Palace Maspalomas, the route will test athletes with a climb from the foot of the Maspalomas Dunes, taking competitors through Arteara, Fataga, Tirajana, and El Pajar to Pasito Blanco.
The first timed section of this stage runs from Aqualand to Ayagaures, finishing at the summit of Pedro González in a 12,3-kilometer time trial at an altitude of 470 meters , which is expected to leave the cyclists breathless in a battle against an average gradient of 4,4%, and a cut-off time of 50 minutes.
The second of the trials will evaluate the athletes in their face to face with the road between Pasito Blanco on its way up to Ayacata, with 45 kilometers and 1.304 meters high. With an average slope of 4,7%, this time trial will push the participants to the limit in a challenge through El Pajar, Cercados de Espino, Soria, Barranquillo Andrés, the Las Niñas dam and culminates at the top of Ayacata.
Fast and demanding
The second stage promises a fast-paced and dynamic sporting spectacle, a do-or-die finish on a single timed section. This 75-kilometer stage features a 22-kilometer time trial climb that will determine the podium finishers. Starting from the RIU Palace Maspalomas hotel, the cyclists will tackle a competitive section that runs from the Mirador viewpoint to Fataga and Tirajana , reaching an altitude of 925 meters, with an elevation gain of 810 meters and average gradients of 4% . This timed section will decide the titles and provide a grand finale to one of the island's most iconic cycling routes, exclusively for the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts.
This non-competitive section is a two-wheeled sporting paradise and one of the attractions that draws thousands of amateur and professional cyclists to the island every year. Passing through Santa Lucía, La Era, Vecindario, Doctoral, and Bahía Feliz , and with the GC-65 and GC-500 roads available to participants, the awards ceremony will be the perfect place to reunite and celebrate a grand sporting event with live entertainment and music.
Cycling as a tourist attraction and differentiator
The EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts has consolidated itself in the sports calendar, firm in its objective that sport adds quality to the offer of Gran Canaria as a destination, is a tourist attraction and encourages enjoying the island from a healthy perspective, putting in value its natural heritage.
The EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts has the support of the Insular Sports Institute of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Maspalomas Costa Canaria, RIU Hotels & Resorts, Turismo Gran Canaria, Hospiten, Free Motion, Nektium, Coca-Cola, Aquabona, and Esenat, among others.
