The 87th Tour of Portugal cycling race will cover the entire country and will have international broadcast coverage, revealed Ezequiel Mosquera, admitting that UAE Emirates may participate in the edition that will take place between August 5th and 16th.
"The novelty is that we will 'touch' the whole country. The intention is that the average Portuguese person will see the map and say: this is the Volta a Portugal. We are working on that and also on new features, without giving up on the classics," announced the new director of the 'queen' race on the national calendar.
In an interview with the Lusa news agency and Antena 1 radio, behind the scenes of "O Gran Camiño," Ezequiel Mosquera stated that the new organizers of the Tour want to "offer new features without being extremely disruptive."
"We also don't want to be the target of criticism and have people say, 'This person arrived here and changed everything overnight.' In the Volta a Portugal, there were many things that worked well, and it was a great event. And within what already exists, we want to start contacting other municipalities, adding other locations and other iconic places in Portugal, which is the main argument for this year," he explained.
However, the iconic Torre and Senhora da Graça will "probably" remain on the route of the 87th edition, although "perhaps in a different way".
"I always say that we have to be different, not repetitive, which often implies taking risks. It's very important to generate expectation, and Portugal has the territory for that. Above all, we want to seek out iconic Portuguese locations that, until now, were more off the radar of the Volta a Portugal, while retaining some stages, and be present throughout the country," he summarized.
Without revealing yet where the next edition begins and ends, the former Galician cyclist disclosed that the race will be broadcast internationally on the Eurosport channel.
"It's a super event and the Portuguese people have to believe in that. There are races with huge budgets that don't even come close to the level of the Volta a Portugal. The only thing missing was showing the world the great production that RTP does. That's what sustains cycling today," he emphasized.
EME Sports, Mosquera's company, seeks to move away from conceiving the Tour "as a more domestic product and make it more global," bringing in "new players, so that people abroad have expectations for a mini-Tour de France."
In this sense, it is "likely" that UAE Emirates, the best team in the world, will be on national roads between August 6th and 15th, as well as "a few more" WorldTour teams, the top division of cycling.
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