Haimar Zubeldia takes on the challenge of EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts

 

The Basque athlete joins the list of exceptional guests of the most popular cycle sports in the south of Gran Canaria to challenge the cyclists for another year in this special edition, in which there are already more than 500 confirmed registrations representing to around twenty nationalities from all over the planet. 

 

 

Haimar Zubeldia is getting ready for this new sporting challenge, representing the best of cycling from the late 90s and 2000s. Zubeldia made a place for himself in the highlights of Spanish cycling as track and cyclocross runner, with several medals since his debut as a professional in 1998. He began to accumulate victories with the Euskaltel-Euskadi team, before moving to Astana after 11 seasons. His record includes Grand Tours, finishing tenth in the Back to Spain2000, eleventh in the same event in 2002, and fifth in the Tour de Francia 2003. He achieved two third places, two fourth places and a fifth in different stages that year, in a golden era for the Basque cyclist who also finished fifteenth in 2005, eighth in 2006, fifth in 2007 and sixth in 2012. 

 

The athlete from Usurbil, Guipúzcoa, also shone in the race prior to the Tour, the Dauphiné Libéré, reaching the podium as second, third and sixth in the 2000, 2002 and 2008 seasons, respectively, establishing himself as a prominent figure in national cycling until his retirement in 2017 after 20 years of sports career. He remains a great rival today, as he demonstrated by winning the queen stage of the Arabian Titan Desert in 2022, and coming second in 2023. 

 

 

Haimar Zubeldia returns to his annual appointment with Gran Canaria, which will be the world headquarters of the Gran Fondo World Championship, and will crown the world champions. In addition, the event has strengthened ties with sister events in Italy, closing alliances with the 5 Mila Marche, and the international Prosecco Cycling event in Valdobbiadene, in Veneto.

 

In 2024, the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts will have two stages with 115 kilometers and two timed sections, and 75 kilometers and a competitive section. On Saturday, February 10 and Sunday, February 11, cycling is the protagonist in the south of Gran Canaria for a weekend of sports. The first stage will kick off from the 'home' of this test, the RIU Palace Maspalomas, to take over one of the most popular routes on the island, which runs through Arteara, Fataga, Tirajana and El Pajar to Pasito Blanco.

 

Power, endurance and strategy, the challenge includes a first timed section of 12,3 kilometers at 470 meters of altitude and an average inclination of 4,4% between Aqualand and Ayagaures, with the finish line at the Pedro González summit. The second time trial has 45 kilometers and 1.304 meters high, with an average slope of 4,7% between Pasito Blanco on its way up to Ayacata, in a circuit surrounded by the landscapes of Cercados de Espino, Soria, Barranquillo Andrés, the dam of Las Niñas to Ayacata. 

 

 

The second stage will close the podium with a 75-kilometer circuit and a 22-kilometer time trial, at 1.304 meters high, and with an average slope of 4,7%. This stage runs through Fataga to Tirajana, to return to the RIU Palace Maspalomas via Santa Lucía, La Era, Vecindario, Doctoral and Bahía Feliz via the GC-65 and the GC-500.

 

 

Tourist and sports destination designed for cycling

 

The EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts strengthens the commitment with which it was born seven years ago, the interest in showing the world that Gran Canaria is an unrivaled destination for cycling and outdoor sports, with epic conditions for training. and compete at all levels. Tourist infrastructure, stable climate, sports services, nature, security and quality experiences enrich the island as a sports destination, with cycling as an added and differentiating value.

 

This sports cycle has once again completed its maximum number of places with more than 20 different nationalities, in an event that everyone falls in love with for its great atmosphere, like a nearby test that turns Maspalomas into a great sports festival with many surprises, spectacle, batucada, expo area, collective lunch, and an awards ceremony at the foot of the Maspalomas Dunes. 

 

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.