This weekend, 130 cyclists, 17 Guardia Civil motorbike outriders, 14 support riders and a Guardia Civil control car will be racing through the streets of the Orihuela municipality, as the 12th edition of the cycle race “Cinturón al Sur de Alicante” is held from Friday the 9th through to Sunday the 11th of May, 2014.
The afternoon of Friday will be dominated by registration and gathering of the teams in an area set aside on calle Almohabenos, at the junction of calle Nazaries, just off calle Escorpiones, near to the municipal sports centre, before the riders gather at Villamartin for the start of the race.
On Friday evening, the race starts at 16:30, taking in the Orihuela Costa and San Miguel area, for a race that covers 82 kilometres. Starting at TM Grupo Inmobiliario on calle Paquito el Chocolatero, the riders will race along calle Robert Wagner towards San Miguel, La Marquesa, Los Montesinos, along the CV-905 Torrevieja road to Benijofar via the Quesada roundabout, through Montebello, Vistabella and Bigastro, then heading through Hurchillo and passing Torremendo lake, back through San Miguel and finishing at the Abbey Tavern at around 18:40.
Stage 2 on Saturday sees the race take to the mountainous area of the municipality, from Orihuela to Barbarroja, with a 97 kilometre stretch. Staring at 10:30 in Orihuela, the riders will head south, through Hurchillo and then east towards Bigastro, through Vistabella and towards Los Montisinos, before heading north towards Algorfa, Benejúzar, Callosa, Redován, Albatera, through Hondón and finishing at Barbarroja at around 12:45.
Finally, on Sunday, the final stage sees the focus in on Orihuela and Torremendo once again, with 79 kilometres of road covering the farm and fruitful areas of the inland region. Starting at 10:30, the riders will leave Orihuela and head south through Hurchillo and along Torremendo lake, through Torremendo itself and on to San Miguel, doing a circuit around the town, at around 11:40, before returning along the same route through Torremendo back to Orihuela, with an anticipated finish time of 12:30.
The entire route can be viewed on the website of the organisation who have been responsible for this event in the last 12 years, which is at www.ccoriolano.com, along with details of both the history of the event and the current patronage.
This is a unique vent that highlights some of the benefits of the terrain of Orihuela, designed to take in as much of the area as possible, highlighting the diversity of the municipality. There will be an element of disruption to traffic through the weekend, so it might be best to avoid the area if you don´t want to get caught out, but the Guardia Civil riders are highly trained to deal with this sort of event, and always manage to keep disruption to a minimum through mostly rolling-roadblocks, although there will be some streets blocked to traffic completely.
In its 12th year, this event is now firmly fixed on the sporting calendar, and one which is enjoyed by many, and this year coincides with another national event focussing on cycling on Sunday, the Decabike annual event is arranged by sports chain Decathlon, with all stores across the country collaborating in showing the benefits of cycling, both in terms of health and environmental reasons.
Although not quite of the gruelling state of the professional race, the 6.5 kilometre route on the Orihuela Costa will cover calles Pintor Ribera, Pavo Real, Arcoiris and Salvador Dalí, with a fun feel that this year will also include other forms of self propelled movement, such as skates or skateboards.
Other side events are also planned, such as Zumba, multi-sports, cycle proficiency and education and more, to make this a fun and healthy based day, aimed at the entire family.
Filed under: http://www.theleader.info/article/43568/
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