The Clásica Jaén is a reality. The first edition of the cycling race that aims to be an international reference, will see the light today with a spectacular route: 196 km, between Baeza and Úbeda, and 3,100 m accumulated unevenness. The thing does not end there, since if to said length and hardness you add the epic of the sterrato (dirt roads), the cocktail could not be more attractive. We are talking, of course, about the ‘Spanish Strade Bianche’, which will have neither more nor less than 40 km of sterrato, almost everything uphill, to offer an unprecedented show in Spain. Epic at its finest.
The reference to the Italian round is not a mere coincidence, since the head of all this, the coach Pascal Momparler, took as a reference to what many already consider unofficially, the ‘Sixth Monument’ of cycling. “That is what we are looking for here, that the Spanish fans have its classic. That when I go out I can say, that apart from the Clásica de San Sebastián, it has the Clásica Jaén, as others say: ‘we have the Roubaix, the Strade, the Amstel, the Lieja’. A particular race that has pavés (the last 700 meters) and sterrato”, Momparler pointed out to AS and the rest of the media attending the presentation of the test, to which he added about his idea: “Since I went to Úbeda I saw in my head the Strade Bianche. The heritage, with that environment of olive trees… It is something that sells itself. In the Diputación de Jaén I told about this madness and the deputy, Ángel Vera, who I think is worse in the head than me, threw himself into the mud. We want it to be for many years, to establish itself in the calendar and grow.”
Profile of the first edition of the Clásica Jaén.
AS Journal
And be careful with that mud, since it can be just one more element of the race. The forecast is that it will rain this Monday night, so the dirt roads, perfectly arranged for the occasion, could provide even more impressive images. “Even more epic. It will be a beautiful race if it rains,” said Momparler emphatically. In turn, the reception of the race by the RFEC It couldn’t have been better. José Luis López Cerrón, its president, welcomed him with open arms: “This is important news for me. Being the first edition, it has been able to get into the UCI calendar and I think it will climb steps with the support it has. Very excited about this new experience. It will be very nice. Strade Bianche also started little by little and we have all seen what it has become. Hopefully, saving the distances, this will be a similar race”.
Finally, the icing on the cake, the real stars: the runners. Fortunately for the Clásica Jaén, despite the absence of an Alejandro Valverde who was emerging as the headliner (Movistar isolated him and other teammates due to the positives that the team had in Valencia), the participation will be of a high level with names like those of Miguel Ángel López, Tim Wellens, Alexey Lutsenko, Emanuel Buchmann, Lennard Kämna, Jai Hindley and Lorenzo Fortunato, among others. The Clásica Jaén is here to stay…
List of participants
List of riders participating in the Clásica Jaén.
Classical Jaen