Racing the Costa Blanca

THE COSTA Blanca Bike Race is an adventure and a challenge framed within a mountain bike competition which forms part of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) calendar.

“The race, spread over four consecutive days and with stages of between 40 and 60 kilometres, takes places in a privileged environment, Alicante’s Costa Blanca, where participants enjoy spectacular landscapes, amazing routes and in an ideal climate for this type of competition,” according to the race organisers.

“The Costa Blanca Bike Race stands out for being the only race in this country raced in pairs, which makes it a truly unique event.”

Now in its fifth edition, the four days of cycling started yesterday (Thursday, January 31) and continue to February 3.

What makes the Costa Blanca Bike Race different is that participants must race together as a team of two people with a maximum gap of just two minutes between them.

There is also an individual race taking place over the same weekend for competitors who would like to take part and enjoy the unique routes, but don’t have a partner to race with.

“The main objective of this race is to mix amateurs with the professional world of cycling, anyone at any level could be in the peloton, and they share the experience with some of the best bikers, worldwide,” they note.

Yesterday’s opening stage started and finished in Finestrat and was 45km in length with a total ascent of 1,600 metres.

Today’s stage is a short 15km jaunt from Altea through the Sierra Gelada to Antenas, which has a nasty sting in its tail, where the majority of the total 600 metres of ascent takes place in the final 2.5km.

The penultimate day’s racing is a demanding circular 45km ride starting and finishing in Polop, which boasts a total of 1,600 metres of climbing.

The final day in the saddle features a 57km ride from Playa Poniente in Benidorm to Villajoyosa Playa that incorporates a total ascent of 1,400 metres.

All stages commence at 10.00 with a neutralised start.

The individual or ‘Half Race’ takes in the final two stages of the main race.

The 2019 Costa Blanca Bike Race boasts the presence of the recently retired, charismatic Spanish UCI World Tour rider, Joaquim ‘Purito’ Rodríguez (pictured) , the Spanish crosscountry mountain biker and Rio bronze medallist Carlos Coloma – who is paired with the Argentinian, two-time Olympian crosscountry mountain biker Catriel Soto, and the motorcyclists Nico Terol and Héctor Barberá, amongst many others.

Full details of the weekend’s activities are available through the Costa Blanca Bike Ride’s website at costablancabikerace.net