GRAN CANARIA — The Vuelta a las Islas Canarias will open the UCI pro racing calendar next January as the first-ever professional stage race held in the Spanish archipelago, running for four days from January 14-17. Situated roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Spanish mainland, the Canary Islands are frequently used by professionals and amateurs for warm-weather and altitude training camps, and the new event will be the first pro tour staged there.
Promoter and organiser Noelia Pérez said the race was designed to showcase the sport's popularity in the islands and to give local riders a rare chance to see top-level racing without traveling to the 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. Pérez, also president of the Gran Canaria Bike Team with juniors and juveniles from the Canaries and a U23 link to a Basque squad, noted flourishing clubs like Tenerife Bike Point and Tenerife ViClass and said many young riders dream of turning professional despite the logistical challenge of moving team vehicles and material to the mainland.
Pérez said the early January date was deliberate. "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." She added the race offers a European warm-weather alternative to events in Australia and the Middle East at that time of year, describing the islands' climate as "the eternal spring," and said teams can combine winter training camps with the race. The initial format will be low-key and not overly demanding, with four mass-start stages on relatively easy terrain and no time trials, while start and finish towns for 2027 are yet to be released.
There are no plans to climb Mount Teide — Spain's highest mountain at 3,715 metres — in the first editions. "They'd kill us; nobody would come," Pérez said, adding a Teide ascent is not out of the question if the race grows to WorldTour level or changes dates. The four-day structure reflects geography, with two stages planned in each of the biggest islands across the northern group including Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Isla Graciosa and Fuerteventura and the southern group including Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera and Hierro, with support from OCETA, organiser of Itzulia Basque Country and San Sebastián. Backed by public and private funding, the mid-term ambition is to expand to six islands using ferries or planes, and Pérez said teams contacted her within 24 hours of the race appearing on the UCI website. She said the recent failed attempt to bring the Vuelta a España to the islands this year was coincidental to the new tour's launch and that cross-party political support had made the regional tour possible.