30 Jan 2024

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana, the first UCI ProSeries 2024 event

Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana (2.Pro)

January 31st - February 4th

The warm-up phase in Spain inaugurating the 2024 season concludes this week with the first race of the ProSeries calendar: Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana. As tradition dictates in this region, there will be plenty of undulating terrain near the sea, in places known to riders for winter training and for last weekend’s opening races.

Similar to the recently concluded Challenge Mallorca, the Volta Valenciana takes place over five stages from Wednesday to Sunday. Gently rolling profiles characterize the first three stages: in the first two, Desert of the Palms (despite the name, a lush hilly area) and Corrals plateau will serve as launchpads for their respective finishes, while in the third one the Puerto de Albatera will split the race in two, enticing both attackers and sprinters. The fourth (and penultimate) will be the queen stage: initial passages through Altea and La Nucia, followed by 5 mountain passes culminating with the unprecedented Alto del Miserat (5 km with double-digit gradients) at -15 km from the Vall d’Ebo finish line, also uphill. Finally, attention to the end game, less than a hundred kilometers but still meaningful: Port de l’Oronet as the first taste, the formidable Puerto de la Frontera exactly halfway, final call for the GC battle; from there, a long descent to the capital’s port.

Polti Kometa is participating in this race for the first time since becoming a ProTeam, while in the Continental category (in 2019) they achieved a 6th place with Gazzoli in the final stage of Valencia, which was flat at the time. For this 75th Valenciana Stefano Zanatta will lead a climbing-oriented team, with Paul Double, Davide Piganzoli and Fernando Tercero, and in the case of a sprint they will rely on Giovanni Lonardi; along with them, Mirco Maestri, Fran Muñoz and Diego Sevilla.

Among the 7 mentioned riders, one is making his season debut: twenty-two-year-old Tercero. “This season, I want to take a big step forward,” says the talent promoted last year from the Under 23 Fundacion Contador’s team, “confident in the experience gained in the previous year as a neo-professional. My 2024 starts with a race that promises to be challenging, I’m ready!”

This charge is shared by the sports director Zanatta: “We arrive at the first true stage race of the season on the back of the good signs seen in these first competitive outings. Already at the Clàssica on January 20th our guys stayed in the moment, we’ve worked well this winter and we’re approaching the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana convinced of our abilities, even though we know there are several WorldTeams ready to play their cards.”