Male Team 19 - 22 May
Emakumeen Bira
368 Kilometers 4 Stages
The most prestigious women’s cycling event in Spain, with the best field of competitors, will see the Movistar Team riders taking on the strongest riders in the world without leaving home, the race having granted a place into the UCI Women’s WorldTour calendar as of 2018. The 31st edition of the Bira will offer, just like tradition, a route full of mountains, yet with a very significant change: a quite long ITT -26km from Salvatierra / Agurain to Vitoria-Gasteiz (Sunday 20th May)- on entirely flat roads, very well suited for the best specialists in the peloton.
The Basque race will start a day earlier (Saturday 19th) in Legazpi, with a 108km hilly route including the climb of Aztiria (Cat-3) and 2x Eizaga (Cat-3), the final ascent -to be crested with 5km remaining- set to create an early selection together with the non-categorized ‘Kirtenberg’ hill. Monday 21st will bring terrain better suited for adventurers or fast finishers, with longer climbs like Etxaguen (Cat-2), Untzilla (Cat-3) or Arlaban (Cat-2) yet with its last ascent being completed with 33km from the finish in Aretxabaleta. Lastly, on Tuesday 22nd, two climbs of the legendary Urkiola will decide in Iurreta (120km) a race whose tough courses allow for time gaps to be created every single day.