Italian Luca Chiesa and Swedish Emma Belforth, champions of the EPIC Gran Canaria

 

EPIC PHOTOS GRAN CANARIA 2025

 

 

The EPIC Gran Canaria has crowned its champions. A grand celebration, complete with batucada drumming, live music, a carnival parade, drag queens, and a spectacular show, created a unique atmosphere to close out the eighth edition of this cyclotourism event. Italian Luca Chiesa successfully defended his title, while Sweden's Emma Belforth proved unbeatable throughout the competition.

 

With a stage of 75 kilometers, the 22 timed kilometers that separate Lomo Maspalomas from the town of Tirajana have decided the titles, which have fallen in the men's category to Luca Chiesa ( 2h47 '34”), Marcos García ( 2h47 '49”) and Blas Arturo Rivero ( 2h48 '32”) ; while the women's category has been led by Emma Belforth ( 3h12 '32”), Susan Maclean ( 3h30 '29”), and Yvonne Margraf ( 3h41 '28”).

 

 

In the junior category, the title went to Néstor Herrera, with Hugo Lauces and Héctor Jesús Santana in third position; and in the women's category, Ane Zubeldia, Carolina Alemán, and Noelia del Carmen Pérez ; in addition to the prize for the largest team, the Yrichen group, followed by Bike Division.

 

Starting from the RIU Palace Maspalomas hotel, this stage was full of excitement, featuring a thrilling, fast, and dynamic time trial up a hill climb where less than a second separated the leaders. In the men's race, this stage was a high-level sporting battle among the peloton's leaders, with Italian Luca Chiesa determined to defend the title he won last year. Completing the time trial in 49 minutes and 36 seconds (49'36"495), Chiesa has won again, in a battle against the best local talent, with the island cyclists pushing hard. Less than a second behind and crossing the finish line together, Blas Arturo Rivero (49'39"912) took second place, and the German Daniel Kierok (49'45") completed the stage podium. Yesterday's strong performance, including two more time trials, secured the overall victory for Luca Chiesa , along with fellow Canarians Marcos García and Blas Arturo Rivero.

 

 

In the women's race, Swedish cyclist Emma Belforth (57'32") was the fastest of the stage, winning every single time trial and proving unbeatable this weekend of sport in Gran Canaria. In this final timed section, Belforth's strongest rivals were Polish athlete Marta Keller ( 1h04'16 ") and fellow Swede Susan Maclean ( 1h04'55 "). Based on the total accumulated time, the EPIC Gran Canaria crowned its champions: Emma Belforth ( 3h12'32 "), Susan Maclean ( 3h30'29 "), and Yvonne Margraf ( 3h41'28 ").

 

 

With 500 cyclists from 23 countries, the EPIC Gran Canaria held its awards ceremony, a hallmark of the event. The Maspalomas Dunes provided the stunning backdrop for crowning the champions, with Marcos García and Lourdes Bethencourt taking the top spots among the Canary Islanders in this edition. The ceremony was attended by the councilors for Tourism and Sports of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Yilenia Vega and Ramón Suárez, the acting mayor, Alejandro Marichal, and the commercial director of RIU Hotels & Resorts, Maurice Damen.

 

After a first stage of 115 kilometres and two timed sections on Saturday, and today's stage with 75 kilometres and a single competition section, with a descent that passes through Santa Lucía de Tirajana, La Era, Vecindario, Doctoral and Bahía Feliz, the eighth edition closes with a new success in terms of organisation, participation and the best atmosphere, confirmed with a great collective lunch with paella and live music. 

 

EPIC Gran Canaria has formed its starting line with iconic names in this sport in its ranks such as Alessandro Ballan, Igor Astarloa, Haimar Zubeldia, Iban Mayo, David López, Mario Cipollini, Claudio Chiapucci , and content creators such as Ana González, Juliet Elliot, Martín Mata or Daniel Sanz.

 

 

For the ninth edition

 

The EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts is more than just a race, and that is how its participants define it. With a maximum capacity of 500 places, which this year were filled in just 48 hours, the most popular cycling event in the south of Gran Canaria has more than one challenge. 

 

Showing the island as a cycling paradise and serving as an ambassador to the world of the most popular and spectacular routes, EPIC brings images of the landscapes and the good conditions for this sport through its cyclists to the entire planet, promoting the virtues of the destination and its potential for high-level sports tourism, for training, competing and relaxing, of quality and sustainability.

 

Furthermore, this race, integrated into the UCI calendar and the Gran Fondo World Tour circuit, has become the launching pad for the European season and a meeting point for professionals and amateurs who share their experiences in this sport that they are passionate about. With the close of this eighth edition, the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts is starting to warm up for its ninth edition, with more surprises.