The rain storm that had stalked on Friday has given a break this morning and has made the start out of the 6th edition of the Gran Fondo Cambrils Park Costa Daurada possible with the participation of around 2000 touring cyclist. This touring cyclist ride starts and finishes at Cambrils Park Sport Village and goes through the coastal and inland territory of the Costa Daurada. It is organized by the firm Cycling Costa Daurada and Cambrils Park Sport Village and counts on Cambrils city council and Tourist board of Cambrils’ collaboration. Jaume Rué, director of Cycling Costa Daurada, states: “We started with 900 participants in the first edition in 2014, and now we are settled with 2.000. Is the number we are comfortable with and above all, when it come to the territory, it is not a massive race that slows down the daily life of the inland inhabitants of the Costa Daurda”.
It is a sports event that takes place over the weekend. On Saturday the race will take place and, also, a kid’s event at the Resort. On Sunday there will be a track trial at Castell d’Escornalbou. Incidentally, Gran Fondo has count on Melcior Mauri’s participation, a former professional cyclist who won a Vuelta España (Tour of Spain).
“It is a different event, there isn’t any format like this in Spain. It is a 2-day event. The ride starts and finishes at the Resort where your are staying at, which makes it easy” Rué mentions. Around 6 a.m all the operation would start with almost 150 volunteers from Cycling Costa Daurada. The 2.000 participants, most of whom are also staying at Cambrils Park Sport Village, have been pregresively arriving from their accommodations at the Resort to the starting line.
It is expected that, around 12:00 a.m participants taking part in the 123km, 2000 metres high difference Escaladei short route, which crosses 20 towns, will start to arrive; and that around 13:30 will arrive the participants doing the 183 km, 3100 metres high difference Montsant long route, which crosses 21 towns. Both routes pass through the roads of Costa Daurada, the Priorat and the Montsant. The longest one also goes through 6 mountain passes and their start and finish lines are at Cambrils Park Sport Village.
2019 Edition
On Sunday, what is considered to be the main change of this edition will take place: the time trail. In this edition, it takes the same competitive spirit, but the format changes. Until now it was an individual competition, meaning that participants could start the trial once they arrived at the start line and in scheduled hours. Awards were given to the ones doing the best times. Now, it will be a group trial, where participants will be split into categories and will start at the same time, encouraging, this way, competitiveness. This race is going to be hold over 3,4 km and an average 8% gradient, reaching up to a 20% road slope.
Always bearing in mind participants’ suggestions and opinions, this year they have been able to choose, in a social media contests, the jersey model for this weekend. The change in the location of the starting and finish line at Vial de Cavet, makes it easy for participants as it is mores spacious and convenient.
Keeping the family spirit that characterizes the tourism of the area, this sport trail is also family friendly. For this reason, there are also activities aimed at the younger ones. On Saturday morning the GF Cambrils Park Kids will take place, which is a trial open to all the children coming on that day. It consists in a series of closed circuits inside Cambrils Park Sport Village facilities. It will be supervised by supervisors and specialized staff. In addition, there will be activities like a gymkhana or bicycle games to make the waiting more dynamic.
Among participants, once more we can find the name of great national cyclists, at a Catalan level and at a Spanish level alike, and the number of International participants is also increasing.
