Crucial Meeting to Realize a Long-Held Dream. Tenerife will host a key meeting at the beginning of next week to make it possible for the Vuelta a España to return to the Islands in one of its upcoming editions. The last and only time it happened was in 1988, and after several failed attempts, the parties involved seem more determined than ever to reach an agreement that had long seemed unattainable.
The convening of a new session of the Government Council in Tenerife, with the presence of the main stakeholders from the administrations that would collaborate with this sporting event, will be used to try to take the step that could be definitive in this long-standing desire. One scenario would involve, among others, the Tourism and Sports departments, both from the Government of the Canary Islands and the Cabildos of Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Everyone would sit around a table with Javier Guillén, the head of Unipublic, the company in charge of organizing the Spanish tour.
It will be the umpteenth and perhaps decisive attempt -or maybe the last, if not materialized- to settle an outstanding issue that has resurfaced recently and that would entail the fulfillment of two essential conditions: that the presence of La Vuelta in the Archipelago takes place – at the very least – in the two capital islands; and that this relocation occurs as the climax of the tour.
Enrique Franco, director of La Vuelta between 1979 and 2005, had openly expressed his intention to climb Teide, a long-cherished desire that he did not fulfill, but that Guillén has inherited – as he has publicly stated on repeated occasions – as part of a plan that would also include the ascent in Gran Canaria to Pico de Las Nieves, one of the most famous mountain passes in continental cycling tourism. With these highly demanding peaks included in the equation, the option of making the Islands the starting point of La Vuelta – as it was in 1988 with two stages in Tenerife and one in Gran Canaria – is completely ruled out.
In this roadmap drawn up for more than fifteen years by Javier Guillén and his team, which has not been fully realized for various reasons – economic crises, changes in government, pandemics, among others – at least four or five stages would be included.
This minimum number is necessary to make the costly transfer – logistically and for the athletes – profitable and not disrupt the regular schedule of a major stage race, where the final rest day usually falls on a Monday. A significant number of days that open the door to a third option: carrying out one of the stages in La Palma.
This new attempt to bring La Vuelta to the Canaries has already made significant progress. Or at least manifest intentions. Like those of the Sports and Tourism authorities of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria (Aridany Romero and Carlos Álamo respectively), who during the 2023 tour held a meeting with Javier Guillén. An encounter that was also recently – specifically in mid-December – held by Lope Afonso with the top brass of Unipublic. The Vice President of the Cabildo de Tenerife attended the presentation of La Vuelta 2024 in Madrid – accompanied by Ramón Sierra, President of the Canarian Cycling Federation – expressing his strong desire for La Vuelta to return to Tenerife as soon as possible.
That soon, in terms of time, is another aspect to be decided this coming Monday. With the option for 2025 practically ruled out, the possibility is now open for the return to materialize in 2026. An edition, two years from now, for which Mallorca had been a candidate for the start, but its candidacy seems to fade as the mass tourism that the Balearic island experiences during August would condition the staging of the Spanish tour. A less disruptive start within national territory would be the perfect argument in this case to avoid a second major relocation and the consequent discontent in the peloton. If Unipublic chooses to kick off in 2026 from another exotic location far from the Peninsula, then Canarias might have to wait until 2027.
Nevertheless, the desire of the organizers and authorities to merge La Vuelta and the Canaries faces two major obstacles: one being logistical, and a second closely related, economic. Transferring all the infrastructure involved in a major stage race is a very complex and costly exercise, especially as in this case, such a move could only be done by boat (a limited option in terms of timing, even with a rest day in between) or by plane (increasing the overall cost of the operation).
To these challenges is added the possible additional fee that the Canaries would have to pay for hosting the Vuelta finish. With many cities serving as starting points (in 2024 it will start from Lisbon), concluding the Spanish tour in Madrid is an unwritten rule. Out of the last 38 editions, only on three occasions has Unipublic sought an alternative to Paseo de La Castellana. The selected alternative was Santiago de Compostela, with the Xacobeo Year and the eighth centenary of the pilgrimage of San Francisco de Asís as arguments for this exception. Now it would be up to the island authorities to dig into their pockets to make another outcome different from the norm possible.
Furthermore, for La Vuelta to return to the Islands, and specifically to Tenerife, another key point must be resolved: Teide. It is an unalterable condition from Unipublic that the finish line of the stage in question be installed as close as possible to the volcano. Furthermore, if, to add a twist and innovate, it is decided that this climb takes place on the final Sunday. But this desire clashes with the current regulations of one of the most renowned National Parks in the country. A regulation that prohibits the organization of any sporting event within its boundaries. Only in the case of a cycling race has permission been granted for the race to pass through, but only in transit. The Vuelta a Tenerife, in several of its editions, has had to comply with this particular rule. Even a cycling tour, the Vuelta al Teide, has seen the highest point in Spain only as a witness to the passage of its 300 plus participants.
It will be up to the local authorities – led by the Cabildo de Tenerife – to authorize an exception that, if it occurs, will still come with numerous restrictions – on spectators, vehicles, and logistics – to prevent the slightest harm to the National Park. It will be just one more of the conditions to be agreed upon this Monday for the Canary Islands to host once again one of the most prestigious sporting events worldwide.