Ávila Diary
The Castilian-Leonese race is changing its format due to budget cuts. Six UCI World Teams will participate.
The 38th Castilla y León International Cycling Classic, to be held on July 23, will feature six UCI World Teams in an edition marked by a change in format. This year, the Vuelta a Castilla y León is moving toward a one-day classic. Movistar Team, UAE Team Emirates, Astana Qazaqstan Team, Cofidis, Team Jayco Alula, and Arkea B&B Hotels will be the top-flight teams participating.
The 199.7-kilometer route, designed by the Cadalsa Cycling Club, will begin in Valladolid, next to Plaza Zorrilla, and finish in the Valladolid town of La Cistérniga, after passing five third-category climbs: Robladillo (kilometer 15.4), La Garganta (kilometer 81.5), Portillo (kilometer 88.1), La Armedilla (kilometer 145), and Olivares (kilometer 155.8). According to the organizers, the teams and cyclists participating in the event will be top-class, which will allow for a high level of competition worthy of an event that boasts figures such as Miguel Indurain, Alberto Contador, Alejandro Valverde, Aleksandr Vinokurov, and Simon Yates, among others, among its winners.
The decision to transform the event into a classic is motivated by constant budgetary adjustments, so the organizers—Club Deportivo Cadalsa—made the decision at the time to make a significant change to its format for 2024, in which the victory will be contested over a single day "that is expected to be full of great emotion and spectacularity with bold bids for the final victory in one of the most historic events on the professional calendar," they stated at the time. In recent years, the Castilian-Leonese race has been reducing its format. The first significant cut came in 2012, when it went from five to three stages. That year, the World Heritage Cities—Salamanca, Ávila, and Segovia—were the protagonists. It survived the pandemic by reducing its format to two stages. Now, in 2024, it remains a classic.
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