Joseba Beloki, Iban Mayo and Haimar Zubeldia, first confirmed for the VI EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels&Resorts

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Less than a month before the most important cycling event in the south of Gran Canaria, this event faces the final stretch of registrations, with the guarantee of having the best professional cycling and participation record, with more than 400 participants of around twenty nationalities Today. The EPIC Gran Canaria renews its edition and makes it integrated into the UCI International cycling calendar and as a qualifying event in the Gran Fondo World Tour.

The three-time podium of the return and the Tour de France, Joseba Beloki, repeats at the EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts 2023, ready to take the title from the Finnish Matti Helminen, who has led the event for three consecutive years. Joseba Beloki is a specialist in mountain routes, and has accumulated in his record 14 professional triumphs, three podiums in the Tour de France, one in the Vuelta a España, a Volta a Catalunya and a brilliant career where he has been a member of teams such as Once -Eroski, Festina or Euskatel-Euskadi. The Basque cyclist returns to Gran Canaria again to delight cycling fans as a special guest, adding even more attraction to this race, a meeting point for international professionals.

He will share ranks with other invited professionals, such as the winner of the Alpe D'Huez stage, and several stages in the Giro and the return to the Basque Country, They were going May, in what will be his first EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts, and where he will have the opportunity to demonstrate that talent as a climber that took him to the top between 2000 and 2007.

He will not be the only cyclist known for his talent to conquer impossible slopes, the Basque cyclist will also return to the EPIC Gran Canaria Haimar Zubeldia, winner of 29 grand tours and top 10 in the Tour, who returns to the island determined to face the challenge. Haimar Zubeldia was an outstanding road, track and cyclocross runner who won several medals in more than a decade of professional career. At a professional level, he debuted in 1998 with the Euskaltel-Euskadi team and after eleven seasons he signed for Astana in 2009. On the road he stood out in several grand tours, being tenth in the 2000 Vuelta a España, eleventh in the same event in 2002, as well as as fifth in the 2003 Tour de France, eighth in 2006, fifth in 2007 and sixth in 2012.

The sixth edition of the EPIC Gran Canaria will welcome a new addition, the influencer and Mr. Olympia Europe champion, Endika Montiel. Nutritionist technician, personal trainer and coach, with more than 236.000 followers on Instagram, Endika Montil takes on the challenge of this test alongside several of the legends of international cycling, determined to do the best she can and conquer the Gran Canaria summits.

Also participating in this sixth edition will be German Paralympic Team, with a large representation on the island on February 11 and 12, 2023.

In this edition, the EPIC Gran Canaria will notice the absence of the person who was the first special guest of the event, the runner-up of the World Cup and Olympian Davide Rebellin, faithful to this race in all its editions and who lost his life at the age of 51 in a road accident last November.

This year the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resorts arrives with new features and with the clear objective of opening the cycling calendar in style. The event has been designed as a great sports festival from start to finish, designed for the enjoyment of hundreds of participants and with the aim of bringing together the most select of this discipline on the island, highlighting its potential as a cycling destination. and showing the unique landscapes of several of its most popular routes.

The test will have live broadcast via Instagram, on-site interviews with the athletes, live music, batucada, massages and a physio-sports recovery cabin, entertainment and news during the route and a collective paella to celebrate the arrival at the finish line. Participants will be able to enjoy the unique climate of Gran Canaria, perfect for cycling, with safe roads and attractive routes, in addition to getting to know Canarian products since there will be nods to island traditions in the refreshment stations. The EPIC Gran Canaria will have special mallots, gifts and equipment delivered with the event, which will have more than a dozen motorcyclists and up to fifty volunteers, a red carpet at the arrival and the RIU Palace Maspalomas hotel dedicated to this international cycling test .

The EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels & Resort will warm up its engines from Friday, February 10 with the first meeting of the athletes, collection of numbers and a round table with the guest stars of this edition that professionals and cycling fans can enjoy.

Pre-EPIC: February 10

In this sixth edition, the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels&Resorts is more than a competition, betting on adding and enriching this sport with some of its protagonists. The preEPIC once again invites amateur participants and cycling lovers to the Hotel RIU Palace Maspalomas on February 10 so that they can get closer to the professionals and learn their stories and anecdotes. This previous day was born by popular request and has been consolidated as a prelude to the event, where a talk will be held to talk about cycling, sports, and successful professional trajectories with the invited professionals.

First stage: February 11

On February 11, the first of the stages of the EPIC Gran Canaria RIU Hotels&Resorts will be held, 115 kilometers and two timed sections. 

After the signature control, the departure will be held at 8.30:XNUMX a.m. from the Maspalomas Dunes Viewpoint at the RIU Palace Maspalomas, to take you on one of the most popular cycling routes on the island. The route, from its departure at the foot of the Maspalomas Dunes, runs through Arteara, Fataga, Tirajana and El Pajar to Pasito Blanco.

The first timed section of this stage goes from Aqualand to Ayagaures, with the finish line at the Pedro González summit in a time trial of 12,3 kilometers at 470 meters of altitude. Cyclists will have to fight against a slope of 460 and average inclination of 4,4%, with a cutting time of 50 minutes. 

The second time trial will be from Pasito Blanco on its way up to Ayacata, with 45 kilometers of challenge at 1.304 meters high, and with a gradient of 1.038 meters. The climb of this stage has an average slope of 4,7%. This time trial will pass through El Pajar, Cercados de Espino, Soria, Barranquillo Andrés, the Las Niñas dam and culminates at the top of Ayacata. This second section has a cut-off time of 2.30 hours, with refreshment stations in the Plaza de Ayacata that will serve to bring together all the participants in a great sports festival with entertainment and live music.

Second stage: February 12

The second stage, which will take place on February 12, is fast and dynamic, a burst of energy with a single timed section. The second stage has 75 kilometers of route, with a 22-kilometer time trial that will be key to deciding the podium.

Departing from the RIU Palace Maspalomas hotel, participants will head towards the competition section that goes from the Mirador, with a route that passes through Fataga to Tirajana, with 925 meters of altitude, a slope of 810 meters and average slopes of 4%. At the end of the timed section, the cyclists begin the descent on one of the most popular cycle routes on the island, exclusively for the EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts. 

This neutralized section is a downhill ride designed to enjoy, which passes through Santa Lucía, La Era, Vecindario, Doctoral and Bahía Feliz along the GC-65 and GC-500, to meet again at the hotel where the great sports festival and awards ceremony will begin at noon. 

Teamwork

For its VI edition, the EPIC Gran Canaria Riu Hotels & Resorts is sponsored by RIU Hotel & Resorts, the City Council of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, the Cabildo of Gran Canaria and Turismo Gran Canaria, and within the framework of the European Island project. Sport, GSG Cycling Wear, Free Motion, Hospiten, Coca Cola, AquaBona, Maspalomas24h, La Estrella, Esenat.