Barcelona will leave its mark in La Vuelta 2023. The city of Barcelona will kick off the cycling event and will do so with two stages. The first, of 14.6 kilometers and a positive difference of 124 meters and a negative one of 91, will leave from the Port of Barcelona. The sea will be the protagonist and it is that a platform and a walkway for cyclists will be placed. The second stage, of 181.3 kilometres, will begin in Mataró and end in Barcelona, at the gates of the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.
This Wednesday, Javier Guillén, director of La Vuelta, David Escudé, councilor of Esports, and former cyclist Óscar Pereiro attended the presentation of this start in Barcelona: “La Vuelta is committed to innovation and the first starting signal must be spectacular. What is sought is to get into the DNA of the city and that of Barcelona is sea, beach and city. Those three elements are the ones that we are going to combine in the time trial and we are not going to do honor to it. We may be accused of not having included all of Barcelona, but not of not having included the most beautiful parts of this city. It can’t go wrong, we’ll enjoy it a lot”. Taking advantage of emblematic places in Barcelona was the objective and David Escudé made it clear that “the climb to Montjuic is emblematic and will be a key moment in La Vuelta. Although it is not excessively hard or groundbreaking, the curves and unevenness can pose difficulties for sprinters”.
This Wednesday, some of the media, including AS, were able to enjoy the end of the second stage of La Vuelta cycling through Montjuic alongside Óscar Pereiro. After that, the former professional cyclist carried out an analysis and “the team time trial on the first day is quite technical, not high-speed. It will be more the show than the differences that can be drawn. The second stage is to be a great Tour. Seeing how the professionals act, it doesn’t seem crazy to me that the winner of the Vuelta takes it. It will be a stage in which the break that is made will be of quality. A pure sprinter is not capable of winning on Montjuic because nobody is hiding in cycling today. It’s for Roglic, Evenepoel… some favorite will win in Montjuic”. In addition, a novelty was also revealed: Both the arrival at this second stage and the ascent to Montjuïc Castle will have bonuses. More reason for the great favorites to start marking territory.