Decisive appointment to make a wish that is already approaching four decades a reality. At the beginning of this week, Tenerife will host a key meeting to make it possible for the Vuelta Ciclista a España to return to the Canary Islands in one of its upcoming editions. The previous and only time it did so was in 1988 and, after several unsuccessful attempts, the parties involved seem more determined than ever to reach an agreement that for a long time seemed unfeasible.
The holding of a new session of the Government Council in Tenerife, with the presence of the main actors from the administrations that would collaborate with this sports event, will be used to try to take the step that could be decisive in this long-standing desire. A setup that would involve, among others, the Tourism and Sports departments, both from the Government of the Canary Islands and the Councils of Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Everyone would sit at a table alongside Javier Guillén, the head of Unipublic, the company in charge of organizing the Spanish tour.
It will be the umpteenth and perhaps definitive attempt—or perhaps the last one, if not finalised—to settle an outstanding issue that has resurfaced in recent times, which would involve fulfilling two essential conditions: that the presence of La Vuelta takes place—at least—on the two capital islands; and that this move occurs as the conclusion of the Spanish tour.
Enrique Franco, the race director from 1979 to 2005, had openly expressed his intention to climb Mount Teide, a longstanding desire that he did not fulfill, but that Guillén has inherited—as he has publicly stated on multiple occasions—as part of a plan that would also include ascending the Pico de Las Nieves in Gran Canaria, one of the most famous mountain passes in continental cycling. With these highly demanding peaks as part of the equation, the option of making the Canary Islands the starting point of the Spanish tour—like it was in 1988 with two stages in Tenerife and one in Gran Canaria—is ruled out.
At Least Four Stages
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In that roadmap drawn up over two decades ago by Javier Guillén and his team, which has not materialised for various reasons—economic crises, changes of government, pandemics…—there would be room for at least four or five stages.
A minimum number necessary to make the costly transfer—logistical and for athletes— profitable and not disrupt too much the usual schedule of a grand tour with stages, where the last rest day typically 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 renewed attempt to bring La Vuelta to the Canary Islands has already made serious progress and had previous contacts. Or at least manifest declarations of intent. Like those from the Sports and Tourism officials of the Gran Canaria Council (Aridany Romero and Carlos Álamo respectively), who during the 2023 tour held a meeting with Javier Guillén. A meeting that was also held, more recently—specifically in mid-December—Lope Afonso with the top brass of Unipublic. The Vice President of the Tenerife Council travelled to Madrid for the presentation of La Vuelta 2024 -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 finalised. With the option of 2025 practically ruled out, the roadmap opens the possibility for the return to be planned for 2026. An edition, that of two years from now, for which Mallorca had applied as a candidate for the start, but its candidacy seems to fade away as the massive tourism that the Balearic Island experiences during August would condition the staging of the Spanish tour. A less traumatic start and within national territory would, in this case, be the perfect argument to avoid a second major transfer and the consequent discomfort in the peloton. If Unipublic chooses to kick off in 2026 from another exotic location far from the Peninsula, the Canary Islands might have to wait until 2027.
Even so, the desire of the organization and authorities to merge La Vuelta and the Canary Islands clashes head-on with two obstacles: one logistical, and a second one that goes hand in hand, the financial aspect. Moving all the infrastructure involved in a grand tour with stages is a very complex and costly exercise, especially in this case where such relocation could only be done by boat (a limited option in terms of time, even with a rest day in between) or by plane (which would increase the total operation cost).
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In addition to these challenges, there is also the potential extra fee that the Canary Islands would have to pay for being the finish line of La Vuelta. With numerous cities as starting points (in 2024 it will start from Lisbon) in its history, the end of the Spanish tour in Madrid is an unwritten rule. Out of the last 38 editions, only in three occasions has Unipublic sought an alternative to Paseo de La Castellana. The selected one was Santiago de Compostela with the Xacobeo Year and the eighth centenary of the pilgrimage of San Francisco de Asís as reasons for this exceptionality. Now, the island rulers might have to dig deep in their pockets to make another outcome away from the norm possible.
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