Tour of Valencia

THE 72nd edition of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciá (tour of Valencia) - the first major event of the international cycling calendar will take place from February 3 to 7.

A total of 16 of the best UCI World Tour teams have enrolled to take part in the race, including UAE Team Emirates, featuring the 22year-old Slovenian prodigy Tadej Pogacar, who became the youngest cyclist to win a UCI World Tour race when he won the 2019 Tour of California at age 20. In his debut Grand Tour, he won three stages of the 2019 Vuelta de España and took the top spot on the podium at last years tour of Valencia, an event which set him in good stead for his Tour de France debut and victory, in September 2020.

This will also be the Murcian cyclist Luis Leon Sánchez's, who rides for AstanaPremier Tech, first race of the year. Sánchez's major achievements include winning the 2009 Paris-Nice and the overall classification at the 2005 Tour Down Under, as well as the oneday Clasica de San Sebastian race in 2010 and 2012.

The organisation will only be announcing the departure and arrival locations and not the towns through which each stage will pass to prevent crowds forming on the sides of the road, a sad consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. The fourth stage will be a flat individual time trial of 21km, in the province of Castellon, in which the winner of the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciá will be decided.

The stages are as follows: Stage 1 – February 3: Palmeral de Elche – Ondara /166km Stage 2 – February 4: Alicante – Alicante /184km

Stage 3 – February 5: Torrent – Alto de la Reina / 160km Stage 4 – February 6: Xilxes – Almenara / 21km (CRI) Stage 5 – February 7: Paterna – Valencia / 95km