After a successful first edition of the Benidorm Costa Blanca World Cup, the next event scheduled for January 21 expects a record of 20,000 attendees to witness the greatest possible spectacle, the duel between the great monsters of cyclocross, the Dutchman Mathieu Van der Poel, the British Tom Pidcock, already confirmed, and the expected Belgian Wout Van Aert.
With some changes to the route and the certainty of having the best, the Benidorm test was presented in Madrid with the presence of the mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez, the director of the event, Pascual Momparler and the president of the Spanish Cycling Federation, José Luis López Cerrón.
Van der Poel, five-time cyclocross World champion and current road rainbow, will defend the title he won last January in Benidorm, but the attraction that excites the fans who will fill the venue will be the three-way duel, featuring Pidcock , already fixed at the start, and the possibility of Van Aert, yet to be confirmed. Along with the illustrious, the Spanish multi-champion Felipe Orts, in his best moment of form.
In the women’s section, the organization also expects a luxury line-up, starting with the French Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, world cyclocross champion and also world and Olympic mountain bike champion.
The main novelty announced by Pascual Momparler is the inclusion of a new climb in the route and some change in the space for spectators following the test, which is expected to be close to 20,000.
“We have put a harder climb that will break up the race, with the idea that there will not be so much riding in groups and that it will favor some brave man who wants to escape. For the spectator there will be new spaces, and he will be able to follow the race from many more places. sites,” Momparler said.
The organization plans to exceed 15,000 tickets sold last January and reach 20,000, a figure that would be a record.
After a year of the first edition, the mayor of Benidorm and president of the Alicante Provincial Council, Toni Pérez highlighted the upward surprise that occurred in 2023 compared to the initial calculations.
“This year’s success surprised us, we expected a capacity of 7,000 people and 15,000 tickets were sold. The World Cup was followed in many countries around the world, also in tourist markets such as Central European countries and the United Kingdom. The best balance predicted was multiplied by 2”, explained the mayor of Benidorm.
The World Cup, as Toni Pérez explained, has “a great impact on the city in terms of sports and tourism promotion”, since the families who attend the cycling event also enjoy the town on the Costa Blanca.
