Tour of Valencia cycle race underway
THE GP Banc Sabadell, tour of Valencia (VCV) cycle race started in Orihuela on Wednesday.
The UCI ProSeries race is a second tier men's elite road cycling tour which is open to UCI WorldTeams, UCI ProTeams, UCI Continental teams or national teams, and, is an important preparation event for the spring classics and grand tours that take place later in the season.
Today (Friday), the peloton moves into Valencia province for a 153.5km semi-mountain stage from the Alameda Escultor Ramón Inglés in Bétera to Sagunto.
The 4km neutralised start of the stage passes through the town centre, enabling ‘residents to view it from the doors of their houses’ prior to reaching the CV-333, where the flag will come down for the start of the racing proper.
From Valencia province, the tour moves into Castellón province for stage four on Saturday, February 4.
The ‘queen stage’ starts from Burriana and will see the peloton covering a total of 181.5km, including five categorised climbs, that will come to a climax with a mountain-top finish at the emblematic 15th century Santuario de la Cueva Santa in the Castellón province town of Altura- the first time in the history of the race that a stage has finished in the town. This will be the second of the
CVC’s two mountain-top finishes.
During the stage presentation at the Santuario de la Cueva Santa, Ángel Casero reiterated that the 74th tour of Valencia cycle race is ‘designed so that the mountain is the main protagonist, with little margin for mass sprints’.
The race comes to a climax on Sunday, February 5, when the peloton takes on the final stage from Paterna to Valencia.
On the way to the finish line at the oceanographic centre in regional capital’s city of science and arts, the 93km stage, incorporates a category two climb at Oronet and a category one ascent at La Frontera – both of which are situated in the Sierra Calderona natural park.