La Vuelta and the America's Cup have twinned this Friday in Barcelona, a day before cycling invades the city. Mayor Jaume Collboni presided over the act of union between the two sporting events that the city will host soon, accompanied by the general director of La Vuelta 2023, Javier Guillén, and the CEO of the America's Cup, Grant Dalton. For Collboni, the return of major competitions to the Catalan capital is a lever to "improve the city and its quality of life."
"Major international sporting events leave us a legacy of positive and constructive international projection and the transmission of sports values such as, for example, clean competition and effort," Collboni defended. "They also leave us very important economic income for Barcelona's local economy," he added, not forgetting to mention that it has been more than a decade since the city hosted competitions of these characteristics.
He said this from Somorrostro beach, a place also chosen for the start of La Vuelta this Saturday, more than 60 years after it last did so in Barcelona. "Here we have found the most beautiful and incredible starting scenario we have ever had, with the Mediterranean as host," Guillén valued.
The twinning ceremony included the exchange of the jerseys of the two competitions. One of them was the red jersey that the 22 competing teams of the 68th edition of La Vuelta 2023 will seek to conquer, with 21 stages planned, the first two in Barcelona, pedaling in front of city icons such as the Sagrada Família, the Torre Glòries, Arc de Triomf and Montjuïc.
During this weekend, Barcelona will become the epicenter of professional cycling, with about 3,500 people who will travel to the city to make the sporting event possible, whether they are organization staff or the riders and the staff of the participating teams. More than 1,000 journalists and 300 media outlets are also expected to broadcast their reports from the Catalan capital, with an estimated average audience in Spain of 1.5 million viewers.
The celebration of La Vuelta will entail major impacts on the mobility of Barcelona residents, especially in the first stage on Saturday, with a route of more than 14 kilometers that will run entirely through the streets of the Catalan capital. According to the City Council, it will be the most significant traffic impact in the city's history.