The world champion Igor Astarloa, a luxury guest at the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts

 

Igor Astarloa began his career in professional cycling in 2000, and in 2003 he became world champion in cross-country road cycling at the World Championships held in Hamilton (Canada), a milestone that enhanced a career with other great sporting achievements such as the Belgian Fleche Wallonne Classic, where he made history as the first Spaniard to win the champion title. His brilliant record includes fourth place in Tirreno-Adriatico and sixth in Milan-Sanremo, and Milan-Turin in 2006, among others.

 

 

After more than 10 active seasons, the tough and fast cyclist from Ermua remains linked to the world of cycling, which he maintains as his great passion, and which he will enjoy alongside the more than 500 cyclists who will meet in Gran Canaria to crown the mid-distances and summits of the island on a sports weekend. Astarloa, who also captained the opening of the Giro d'Italia on a motorcycle, opens up with his experience to amateur and professional cycling on the island, which will have its epicenter in Maspalomas for a full weekend of adrenaline.

 

The Basque athlete will debut at the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts in a very special edition for this event, which this year will host the Gran Fondo World Championship, and will crown the world champions. Furthermore, in this edition the Gran Canaria sports cycle leaves the island to strengthen ties with sister events in Italy, in an alliance with the 5 Mila Marche, and the international Prosecco Cycling event in Valdobbiadene, in Veneto.

 

 

In 2024, EPIC Gran Canaria has returned to call cycling fans and professionals of around twenty nationalities, who have completed the maximum capacity of the event in just a few days. This event captivates with its great atmosphere, its routes and its landscapes, and maintains its spirit of close testing that breaks the mold with surprises, a show, a batucada, an expo area, a collective lunch, and an awards ceremony at the foot of the Maspalomas Dunes. . 

 

In this new 2024 edition, 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. Wrapped in the landscapes of the mountain routes of Gran Canaria and with demanding slopes designed to enjoy cycling, the EPIC Gran Canaria will launch on Saturday the 10th in the south of Gran Canaria for an intense weekend of sports. 

 

The first stage will be the take-off of this test from 'home', the RIU Palace Maspalomas, from where the hundreds of participants will head towards one of the most popular routes on the island, which runs through Arteara, Fataga, Tirajana and El Pajar to Pasito Blanco . Demanding, solid and testing endurance, this first stage has 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 is a challenge of 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 that passes through several privileged corners of the island such as Cercados de Espino, Soria , Barranquillo Andrés, the Las Niñas dam to Ayacata. 

 

The second stage will be the decisive phase to the podium, with 75 kilometers of circuit and a time trial of 22 kilometers, 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 through Santa Lucía, La Era, Vecindario, Doctoral and Bahía Feliz to take the path down the GC-65 and GC-500 to the hotel, where Expect a great sports party with live music, a show, batucada and various surprises.

 

 

Gran Canaria, a destination that breathes cycling 

 

The EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts reinforces for another year the commitment with which it was born seven years ago, the determined will to show the world that Gran Canaria is an unparalleled destination for cycling and outdoor sports, with unique conditions to train and compete at all levels and a training place for the world cycling elite of several generations. 

 

 

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.