Barcelona is fashionable for universal cycling. This is how it is clarified after the women’s Vuelta a España of this course has closed with the Barcelona Provincial Council that the start of this edition, on May 4, will be in Barcelona, as announced The Newspaper. A game that joins the one already held in 2023 of the men’s Vuelta and that adds to the well-known and long-awaited Tour of 2026, which turns Barcelona into a city with handlebars and wheels. “Barcelona is a city that has been a bit on the sidelines of cycling in general and that has not been very assiduous for the men’s Vuelta. For cycling lovers, it is appreciated and very positive that it opens its doors to the world and make itself known,” explains Dori Ruano, former cyclist and now ambassador of the Women’s Vuelta.
This will be the third edition of the women’s Vuelta, even though from 2015 to 2019 the test was held under the name of Madrid Challenge. The first three years, editions from 2015 to 2017, the race was held on an urban circuit in the center of Madrid. In 2018 and 2019, the test was held over a weekend, with a time trial taking place on the first day in Boadilla del Monte. In 2020, already under the name Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta, a third stage was added to the race, which that year was held in Toledo. The following year, the race consisted of four stages and all of them were in Galicia, coinciding with the last of the men’s La Vuelta. In 2022, a fifth stage was added and, following the same arrangement, a route was carried out between Cantabria and Madrid. “Steps have been taken in women’s cycling and they are getting bigger and better,” explains Ruano; “It all started with the women’s Tour and the Vuelta has added to that total change.”
Since 2023, now with the name La Vuelta and with live broadcast on Teledeporte and Eurosport, the competition is now one week long. First he left Benidorm and the following year in Valencia. Now it’s time in Barcelona, the same city that, of course, will also embrace as usual the end of the Volta Catalunya -at the end of March-, one of the three stage rounds that are part of the World Tour circuit that are held in Spain. “Since the women’s Vuelta was born, the number of stages has been increased and a lot has been improved by placing the race without overlapping with the men’s race because this way we can transfer the same infrastructure in both races,” Ruano resolves.
The relations of the Barcelona council are excellent both with ASO, owner of the French and Spanish rounds, and with Unipublic, the company that manages the organization of the Vuelta from Madrid, both in its men’s side (from August 23 to September 14). as well as the women’s event (from May 4 to 10), which will have two stages in Catalonia: one entirely in the city of Barcelona; and a second that will travel through several regions of Barcelona and will conclude in Sant Boi de Llobregat. Then it will continue through Spain. “Hopefully it will be the consolidation edition. It is a seed that was planted three years ago and that is growing, that is now a stem in which you are beginning to see the leaves,” concludes Ruano, who highlights the substantial improvements in the race, the runners and even the financial prizes. .
