The 2023 cycling festival will be held from 22 to 24 September
The sixth edition of the Sea Otter Europe Costa Brava-Girona Bike Show, the major international cycling festival that will be held until Sunday at the Fontajau arena in Girona, kicked off this afternoon with more than 14,000 visitors. This year the organisers are expecting 4,000 cyclists to take part in the different events and more than 50,000 people to attend during the three days of Sea Otter Europe, a festival that this year is clearly committed to the urban mobility sector.
On the first day, with queues to get into the venue and a great atmosphere, next year’s dates were announced. Sea Otter Europe 2023 will be held in Girona and the Costa Brava from 22 to 24 September.
Visitors on the first day have already been able to enjoy the festival’s extensive exhibition area, which hosts 350 international brands exhibiting their products at more than 220 stands featuring bikes, electric bikes, accessories and cycling technology. The number of companies attending is up 30% compared to last year, confirming the recovery of an industry that did not escape the impact of the pandemic. During these days, they will also take the opportunity to present some of their new products in Girona.
Between exhibitors and cyclists, there will be participants from over 35 countries, and a hundred journalists from all over the world have been accredited for an international event that will turn Girona and the Costa Brava into the European capital of cycling.
The opening of the festival was led by the mayor of Girona, Marta Madrenas; the president of Girona Provincial Council, Miquel Noguer; the vice-president of the Catalan Cycling Federation, Carlos Ferrer; the festival director, Albert Balcells; and the marketing director of Continental, Marco Buhl.
The E-Bike World Cup is back
Sea Otter Europe’s sporting programme kicked off with one of the two sessions of the World e-bike Series, the e-bike World Cup organised by the UCI. During this edition of Sea Otter Europe, two WES races will be held, the first one today (Friday) and the second one tomorrow (Saturday).
In the women’s race, the world champion, Switzerland’s Nicole Goldi (Trek), did not disappoint and beat the rest of the competitors comfortably. In the men’s category there were two main favourites, world champion Jerôme Gilloux (Lapierre) and Dutch former world champion in Eliminator 2021, Jeroen Van Eck (Ghost). In the end it was Gilloux who took the victory, adding the WES overall to the World Championship that he already holds.
First Spanish short track championship in history
Sea Otter Europe 2022 was the venue for the first ever Spanish short track championship. In the women’s race, there was excitement until the last second. It seemed that Rocío del Alba (BH Templo Cafés) was going to win easily, but a confusion made her slow down in the last meters, and Lucía Gómez (MMR) took advantage, gritting her teeth and winning by a few centimetres in the last meter of the race, taking the first Spanish women’s championship.
In the men’s race, it looked like it was going to come down to the reigning XCO World Championship runner-up David Valero (BH Templo Cafés) and Jofre Cullell (Mondraker Primaflor). They took turns leading for almost the entire race, and at some points it seemed that Jofre might have a chance, but Valero’s dominance in the last lap led him to win with metres to spare, making him also the first Spanish short track champion in history.
A top-class programme for tomorrow, Saturday
Tomorrow, Saturday, will be jam-packed with activities in the festival area will be intense, with events ranging from the Canyon Pirinexus Challenge, the Scott Marathon Series and the Continental Super Cup Massi women’s race to the Super Cup Youth children’s races, the MTB classics for those who are nostalgic and the second round of the e-bike world championship race.
The full programme of activities can be found at www.seaottereurope.com
23 September 2022
