Male Team 22 - 25 Feb
Setmana Valenciana
488 Kilometers 4 Stages
The 2nd edition of the Setmana Ciclista Valenciana will be a landmark for the Abarca Sports organisation, competing with a UCI Women’s team for the first time in its history. The six riders selected to wear the Blue colours at the Spanish event will have to tackle a really interesting course, with no easy days and tough, long stages that should see fireworks from start to finish.
The province of Valencia will hold the inaugural stage (118km, Thursday 22nd), the route going through Benigànim -the hometown of Alba Teruel- and covering two lumpy climbs in its finale: Barxeta (Cat-3) and most notably Barx (Cat-2), 6km at 5.6%. A day later (Friday 23rd), the Desierto de las Palmas ascent (Cat-1; 7.5km at 5%) will try to avoid a sprint finish in Villarreal, though the distance from its summit (40k) could make easier for the fastmen to go for the win in this Castellón stage.
Valencia’s City Council square will receive the riders at the end of the longest stage (Saturday 24th), 137km with the Alto del Oronet (Cat-2) around fifty kilometers from the finish. The decisive stage (Sunday 25th) will, in turn, be the hardest one, with three laps of a long circuit in Alicante, through Benidorm, La Vila and most notably the Finestrat (Cat-2), seven kilometers long with a 5% average gradient.