Utrecht will become next week the first city in the world to host the Tour, Vuelta and Giro with the great start of the Spanish round, which will remain three days in the Netherlandsbefore moving to Vitoria to no longer move from Spain until the end of the three weeks of competition. For days now, the Dutch city has been fully decorated with posters and symbols alluding to the Spanish race. The local organization has invested a total of €16.4 million (including the payment to ASO, owner of the Vuelta) so that the test disputes three stages through Dutch lands.
It was already planned that the Vuelta would leave Utrecht and 2020 but the pandemic knocked down the Dutch plans that requested a new start for this year, curiously in a season in which the three big rounds in stages have started from abroad; the Tour did it from Copenhagen and the Giro from Budapest.
In 2015 the French round, won by Chris Froome, began the journey in Utrecht. At that time, according to the data made public, the first time trial of the Tour, along a different route than the one that will host the Vuelta team time trial in eight days, brought together around 800.000 personas, arrivals from all over the country and that almost tripled the usual population of Utrecht. The forecasts for next week stipulate at least matching those figures, since the local committee has given the Spanish test the same treatment as the Tour.
Fourth experience abroad
It will be the fourth time that the Vuelta will start from abroad after having done so in Lisboa (1997), shaftsalso in the Netherlands (2009) and Nimes (2017). “Our intention is to internationalize the race, so we are open to future experiences in the countries around us, especially in Portugal, without forgetting France either, but we can go anywhere else,” he explains. Javier Guillen, race director. On the horizon of the Vuelta is the interest of Denmarkafter this year’s success on the Tour, both in organization (the start of the race was a spectacle) and in sport (Jonas Vingegaard’s triumph).
Statue of the Tour riders in the run-up to Vuelta placed on Ledig Erf in Utrecht https://t.co/HT0jH6jROJ via @duicnl pic.twitter.com/pVyHtOHAsC
— DUIC (@duicnl) August 8, 2022
Since a few days ago Utrecht The Vuelta atmosphere is already alive with the inauguration of a statue, the entire city decorated with the red color typical of the race and with the call for various citizen events that will be held parallel to the passing of the race. The trunks of the trees are already red, as are some buildings, the doormats of the bars and the windows of the shops. There will also be the participation of the schools so that the children go to the race, as an activity, just when the return to the classroom after the summer holidays is announced.
They are ready! pic.twitter.com/4TAABYz5aU
— Jan Bart Vollebregt (@jbvollebregt) August 9, 2022
But Utrecht will not be the only Dutch city that will have the experience of hosting the Vuelta. In the Bosch, from where the ‘damn’ Tour of 1996 started, the second stage will also end in Utrecht, while the third and last experience of the race in Dutch lands will take place in the city of Breda. Interestingly, during the neutralized route, the platoon will cross on foot inside the great church of Breda, a well-known town in Spain thanks to the famous ‘painting of the spears’ by Diego Velazquez.
“Utrecht, like Copenhagen with the Tour, has wanted to link the start of the race with the culture of the bike, both in sustainability and mobility,” he adds. Javier Guillen. Interestingly, Utrecht has once again been chosen as the best cycling city in the worldsince 50% of trips are made by bicycle.
Utrecht is preparing for the Vuelta. pic.twitter.com/nLbUfhXv7y
— Jos Dresens (@JosDresens) August 8, 2022
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The Vuelta moves to the Netherlands almost 2,000 troops75% of the total number of people who collaborate during the three weeks that the race lasts, since the local organization is in charge of assembling the starts and finish lines, thus avoiding the trip to Holland of the large trucks that transport the fences thereby reducing economic and environmental costs.
The Utrecht a Barcelona
A delegation from Barcelona also travels to Utrecht, led by David Escudésports councilor of the Barcelona City Council, to find out on the ground all the protocol involved in the organization of the great start of the Vuelta that in 2023 will start from the Catalan capital.