Gran Premio Canal de Castilla - a new 'Monte Paschi Eroica' in Spain?

[Bala Verde]

I just read an article on biciciclismo about a new project in Spain, called Gran Premio Canal de Castilla. It is being developed so that Spain will feature a race comaparable in lenght, duration and parcours to the PR, Flandres and the Eroica.

The race is supposed to be over 200km with over 90km of 'rugged terrain', paves, or 'non-tarmac' surfaces with 8 hills.

The coming year is its pilot year - right after the Vuelta Ciclista a Castilla y León - called 'edicion 0', which is basically a ciclotourism version to test the races' viability. The parcours is said to run through Palencia, Valladolid and Burgos, while most of its 'paves' consist of towpaths alongside the 'Canal de Castilla'. They are thinking about two parcourses, one from Aguilar de Campoo with the finish in Valladolid (237 kms) alternated every (even) year starting in the Valladolid and finish in Cueva de los Franceses (221,5 kms.).

There are 4 types of 'paves' in the GP Canal de Castilla distinct from the normal tarmac:

1) sand roads, the mentioned towpaths alongside the canal, without pebbles, stones 4-6m wide.
2)'carreteras blancas': connectors between towpaths and asphalt, with gradients up to 15%.
3) cobbled sections in urban areas 'decorative cobbles'
4) cobbled sections as featured in PR.

SOURCE in Spanish

 

[Mellow Velo]

You may be interested in this BikeRadar thread, that has been running awhile.
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12640067

 

[aarnold517]

sounds real interesting and i'd be real curious to see who would ride in it, vis-a-vis spaniards since flecha is the only real spanish classics rider

looking at the results, the best placed spaniard in ronde was in the fifties and in monte paschi, no spaniards were even close to that...i guess what i'm asking is would this be a spanish race dominated by foreigners?

 

[Swingtop]

Sounds nice, difficult to choose tires with such varied terrain I think.
They should not start with two courses, that's too ambitious. Focus on one track, and get that absolutely right.

 

[Bala Verde]

sounds real interesting and i'd be real curious to see who would ride in it, vis-a-vis spaniards since flecha is the only real spanish classics rider

looking at the results, the best placed spaniard in ronde was in the fifties and in monte paschi, no spaniards were even close to that...i guess what i'm asking is would this be a spanish race dominated by foreigners?

Could be that they want to increase the amount of Spanish one day classics at the highest level. Currently only Donsotia-Donostia (?), if they may even call that a 'Spanish classic'

Besides they have seen the instant success of the Eroica which could suggest that:
-Spain is a little jealous
-there is a demand for these kind of races, so there is money available for funding and money to be made.
-that the type of PR/Flandres racing does not necessarily need to be something of Northern Europe.
-present Spanish youngsters with different types of races, and encourage them long term to develop themselves into classics racers of the Northern type.

or any combination of the above.

Just guessing though

 

[rantanplan]

They have website:

http://www.gpcanaldecastilla.com/espanol/inicio.html

 

[hrotha]

I think 237 km is too long for what would be a semiclassic. With that length and those roads, it's going to be entirely too tough, especially considering the Spanish peloton is not used to this kind of stuff (also it would prevent the sort-of-amateur/continental teams from being competitive).

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

I think 237 km is too long for what would be a semiclassic. With that length and those roads, it's going to be entirely too tough, especially considering the Spanish peloton is not used to this kind of stuff (also it would prevent the sort-of-amateur/continental teams from being competitive).

there are granfondo's of 300 km

 

[hrotha]

there are granfondo's of 300 km

Your point being?

 

[rantanplan]

I think 237 km is too long for what would be a semiclassic. With that length and those roads, it's going to be entirely too tough, especially considering the Spanish peloton is not used to this kind of stuff (also it would prevent the sort-of-amateur/continental teams from being competitive).

The route is very flat, i see more problems in find the money to do it, because the recesion is so hard in Spain.

 

[Kwibus]

Well I can only hope for Spain that this race succeeds. I think we can use another race like this

 

[L'arriviste]

Well I can only hope for Spain that this race succeeds. I think we can use another race like this

Same goes for Tro Bro Leon. Yeeeesss!

 

[Descender]

Could be that they want to increase the amount of Spanish one day classics at the highest level. Currently only Donsotia-Donostia (?), if they may even call that a 'Spanish classic'

Besides they have seen the instant success of the Eroica which could suggest that:
-Spain is a little jealous
-there is a demand for these kind of races, so there is money available for funding and money to be made.
-that the type of PR/Flandres racing does not necessarily need to be something of Northern Europe.
-present Spanish youngsters with different types of races, and encourage them long term to develop themselves into classics racers of the Northern type.

or any combination of the above.

Just guessing though

-A bunch of enthusiastic Spanish fans had this idea but can't find the money to see it through.

 

[rantanplan]

-A bunch of enthusiastic Spanish fans had this idea but can't find the money to see it through.

You are right, but i have readed in spanish forums that in 2011 they going to do it (amateur) again.

The photos of the first edition are really impresive (very nice landscapes):

http://www.gpcanaldecastilla.com/album/index.html

 

[rantanplan]

This year is back the GP Canal de Castilla, in 18th june (amateur ride)

The web now have a short english version:

http://www.gpcanaldecastilla.com clicking in english / states flag

 

[rantanplan]

I'd like to see Cancellara in our sterratos, what a incledible guy.

Dinamita en las piernas!

 

[rantanplan]

An article in http://cobblesandhills.com about GP Canal de Castilla:



http://cobblesandhills.com/wordpress/?p=5282

 

[hrotha]

Did you catch the mention of this GP Canal de Castilla thing during the Canal Vasco broadcast of the Tour of the Basque Country? I felt special for knowing what they were talking about.

 

[rantanplan]

Did you catch the mention of this GP Canal de Castilla thing during the Canal Vasco broadcast of the Tour of the Basque Country? I felt special for knowing what they were talking about.

No, what a pity! When was that?

 

[rantanplan]

You can have a look to 2011's profile in:

http://gpcanaldecastilla.wordpress.com/english/

 

[hrotha]

No, what a pity! When was that?

I'm not sure, I think it was during the 1st or 2nd stage.

 

[rantanplan]

 

[rantanplan]

GP Canal de Castilla has short stretch of cobbles stones.

You could could have a look of them in our new entry in GP Canal de Castilla's blog:

http://gpcanaldecastilla.wordpress....os-adoquinados-del-gp-canal-de-castilla-2011/

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Have to say that only sector 2 looks like a major challenge; the rest are no different to the roads you often see them ride over in Italian races. I like the final sector though, a sharp turn and a steep incline, I see that it's right near the finish too, so that should be good.

 

[rantanplan]

Have to say that only sector 2 looks like a major challenge; the rest are no different to the roads you often see them ride over in Italian races. I like the final sector though, a sharp turn and a steep incline, I see that it's right near the finish too, so that should be good.

You are right, just PA1 is a bit selective, our cobbles are just simbolic, the strongest thing of our proposal are "sirgas"(towpaths, more than 76 Km), strade bianche (white gravel paths, more than 6 Km) and hills (9 in total).