On a hot morning at the Superior Sports Congress (CSD), fundamental support for the first Women’s lap of history get ahead, the different jerseys that some of the runners will wear in the race that starts next Monday, May 1 in Torrevieja and ends on Sunday the 7th in the Lakes of Covadonga were presented. Mountain jersey, combativeness… and red, as in the men’s, for the runner who is in front of the general. Javier Guillén (director of La Vuelta), Fernando Escartín (in charge of La Femenina), Dori Ruano (ambassador of the race), José Luis López Cerrón (president of the RFEC), José Manuel Franco (president of the CSD)…they all met on the almost summery morning in Madrid to promote an act that is about to start.
One of the most striking parts is the prizes, since no one-week race in our country, whether it is male or female, you will have that amount (approximately 130,000 euros in total): “With this bag we have tried to find that effect and that message. An important economic effort is made in an event that is being born, but if we want to launch that equality, it is the line to follow. If the race continues to grow, we will match that proportional amount of money to the stages that are”, pointed out Javier Guillén. With this change of dates, bringing the race forward to May, two reasons motivated Unipublic to do so: “We want to provide this event with all our organizational resources, and coinciding with the men’s event we could not. The riders have to understand that they are in one of the best races in the world and only two can match them: the Giro Donne and the Tour Femmes”.
“We are facing a historic moment”
With the loss of the Zaaf at the last minute due to its internal problems, there will be nine Spanish teams at the start (out of 23): “We have invited all the Spanish teams with the capacity to participate in the race because we also want to give that boost to national cycling. As for dates, as soon as this edition is finished we will carry out an analysis to see if we continue betting on May or promote the race in another part of the calendar”, pointed out Guillén. Dori Ruano, from the vision of his former runner, also celebrated this advance.
“We are facing a historic moment. We have taken the bull by the horns. In women’s cycling there is less specialization on the calendar, but following this line of growth, we will gradually have pure specialists. On top of that, a finish in Lagos de Covadonga, a mythical summit, will increase visibility. It is an edition for climbers, I will tell Guillén in the future to put in a time trial to be an even more complete lap”, the woman from Salamanca said with a laugh. Fernando Escartín, in the absence of confirmations from the teams, warns of a “great participation with numerous stars”.