'We'll show people we can train in short sleeves all year round' – Why the first-ever Vuelta a las Islas Canarias stage race is finally happening next January

The arrival of a new race of any description always sparks interest amongst fans, but when it is set to open the UCI pro racing calendar for the year, like the new Vuelta a las Islas Canarias will do next January, there's arguably even more intrigue.

Set to be run for four days from January 14-17, the Canary Islands stage race will be the first ever to be held on the Spanish archipelago, situated roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the mainland and frequently used by both professionals and amateurs alike for warm weather and altitude training camps.

According to promoter and organiser Noelia Pérez, the idea of the stage race was partly born out of wanting to showcase the popularity of the sport in the islands - and the reasons for that popularity. But it was also designed to provide a focal point for riders from the Canaries who don't get the opportunity to witness top-level pro racing so often, given the distances involved between the islands and the Spanish peninsula.

"It's an idea that was born a long time ago, because it's a bit of a shout-out for the cycling world about the Canary Islands," Pérez tells Cyclingnews.

"I'm also president of a club which operates at national level which has juniors and juveniles all from the Canaries, called Gran Canaria Bike Team and then at U23 level in conjunction with a Basque squad. Then there are other flourishing clubs throughout the Canaries, like Tenerife Bike Point and Tenerife ViClass and so on.

"Basically, there are a lot of kids here who dream about being professional. But being in the Canaries, as you can imagine, it's really hard to travel across to the mainland and get all the infrastructure there, like the team vehicles, material and so on.

"So for the last four years we've had a base on the mainland and another one here and they race around 25 events a year outside the Canaries."

But at the same time, the club begin putting on races in the Canaries too, including a two-day U18 race in one of the two main islands, Tenerife, and then another, the U23 Vuelta al Norte in the other, Gran Canaria. The next step was the Canary Islands' first-ever pro race, with an eye not just on the racers back home, but also on the international cycling market.

"They're promoting cyclo-tourism here a lot, and a lot of the pro teams come here to train as well to prepare at altitude," Pérez points out. The consistently warm climate plays a key role in encouraging bike riders to travel to the Canaries, as well as the increasing interest from the public authorities in promoting sustainable tourism.

"Combine the two - that interest in the younger riders in the sport and the public authorities' interest in promoting it, and the race was able to come to life."

The decision to hold the race so early in the year was deliberately taken as a way of showcasing that it's possible to ride in pleasant conditions in the Canary Islands no matter the season, Pérez says.

"Here we train in short sleeves and shorts 365 days of the year," she said, "and we wanted to show that. You have to see that to believe that."

"Plus there's a lot of racing in Australia and the Middle East at that time of year, but this is for those who've stayed in Europe who say 'Ooh, let's go and find some warm weather in the Canary Islands'. Because if they're on the rollers training indoors on the mainland because of the cold, we've got what we call 'the eternal spring' here.

"Being the first race of the year also shows people what they can do in the Canary Islands as well."

Other advantages of holding the race so early in the season are that teams would be able to combine their winter training camps on the islands with the race itself. Another added incentive is that, in keeping with the first road events of the year, the race itself would not be overly demanding.

No Mount Teide... for now

There are certainly no plans, at least initially, to go up the Mount Teide volcano - Spain's highest mountain, peaking out at 3,715 metres above sea level - Pérez agrees with a smile before adding good-humouredly: "They'd kill us; nobody would come."

"It's not out of the question, if we ended up being WorldTour or changing dates. But that's a long way away for now."

Rather the initial format is comparatively low-key, she says: although starts and finish towns are yet to be released for 2027, what's already decided is there will be four mass start stages on relatively easy terrain, and no time trials.

As for the initial four-day structure, the reason is geographic, given there are two main regions in the Canaries, the northerly one including Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Isla Graciosa and Fuerteventura and the southerly one including Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and Hierro. Support will be provided by the OCETA organisation, which currently runs Itzulia Basque Country and San Sebastián.

With the race having both public and private funding, the current plan is to have two stages in each of the biggest islands, although in the mid-term, the race would be run over six of the biggest islands, using ferries or planes to transport the riders and infrastructure from one to another.

Given the multiple points of interest for holding a bike race - and in in the first 24 hours after the race was published on the UCI's website, teams are already contacting Pérez to find out more details, she says - the biggest question about the Vuelta a las Islas Canarias is perhaps not so much why it is happening for the first time now. Rather it's why it hasn't happened before. That's even more surprising, given virtually every region in Spain has or has had its local stage race, right down to the smallest regions like Murcia and - back in the day - La Rioja.

The other issue still hovering around cycling and the Canaries is the recent failed attempt to hold the Vuelta a España in the islands this year. But Pérez says the fact that the misfire over the national Grand Tour and the first-ever local Tour have all but coincided is just that: coincidental.

"The fact that we were going to have the Vuelta here has shown people just how much interest there is in the sport here. But our own regional tour is totally compatible with having the Vuelta a España here some day, and the authorities are still keen to have it happen here on the islands. They still want to do it."

"The good news is that whatever happens about the Vuelta, we've got our own regional tour happening now. And if it's happening now, that's because the different political institutions and the parties have all come together with the same idea about it.

"Without that official support it wouldn't be able to happen. And that's really good news, because that kind of cross-party agreement doesn't happen that often about anything."

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