The seventh edition of the Fundación Contador Cycling Academies Race will be held on 6 October in Pinto
The traditional circuit of the Barrio de La Tenería in Pinto, a two-kilometre flat route starting and finishing in the Avenida Juan Pablo II of the Madrid town, will once again be the setting for a new edition of the Alberto Contador Foundation Cycling Academies Race. The event, which reaches its seventh edition, will take place on Sunday, October 6 and, in addition to the federated races that are closing the road calendar of the Federación Madrileña de Ciclismo, will once again include the previous test of popular character and free registration.
The popular race is open to all girls and boys up to fourteen (14) years of age, it is not competitive and does not distinguish between types of bicycles; that is to say, you can come with a racing bike or a mountain bike. The main motivation of its implementation is to propose a fun plan linked to sport in the context of the special atmosphere of the school races. The number of bibs for the popular races is limited and, once the quota is full, new registrations will be put on a waiting list.
The collection of the bibs and the runner’s bag that every participant in the popular race will receive will take place on Friday 4th October at the headquarters of the Foundation’s Cycling Academy, located on the ground floor of the Plaza Éboli Shopping Centre, between 18:00 and 20:00 hours. In the event that it is not possible to collect on this day and within this timetable, it will be possible to do so on the morning of Sunday 6th, prior to the event (from 08.30 am circa), at the Emalú Coffee Bar. The organisers recommend, as far as possible, the first option.
The federated races for the different categories, whose registration is formalised through the platform of the Federación Madrileña, will start at 09.30 am, after the popular race. During the morning, children, juveniles, beginners and promising riders will compete over a number of laps of the circuit adapted to their category. Given its location in the calendar, the Contador Foundation Schools Race has been characterized in recent years by an important representation of cycling schools from different parts of the national geography, from Galicia to the Valencian Community through Navarra or the Canary Islands. There has also been a notable presence of women and the number of participants in the juvenile category. In 2023, the Rodríguez Magro Cycling School from Alcalá de Henares was crowned the best team of the day.
‘We are back on the streets with a new edition and we can only thank the institutions and sponsors for helping us to make this cycling festival a success’, explains its director, Álvaro García, from the Escuela Plaza Éboli. ‘Year after year, edition after edition, it has been consolidating its place in the calendar. It is an event that is expected and that is the most beautiful thing. These last few weeks we have received many calls, messages and emails asking us about it and this interest fills us with happiness. And then within our school there is great impatience. In a good way. In general whenever there is a race the following weekend they are always looking forward to the day, talking during the week about this and that. But now it’s even more special because it’s theirs, it’s a party for them”.
‘When we launched the Plaza Éboli Cycling Academy in September 2013, one of our objectives was to promote cycling among children, regardless of their subsequent evolution towards competition or not. But another was that the School and all the activities promoted from it would form part of the life of our town, would have their place in the collective imagination of the neighbours, would be seen as part of their daily sporting and cultural life, naturally and in pleasant coexistence with the offer of other sports and activities. The Academies’ Race is an event that is increasingly consolidated, loved, appreciated, supported and, above all, is a true bicycle festival. It is not only competition, it is fun and discovery. It is a day of the most authentic cycling’, says Francisco Javier Contador from the organisation.
The seventh edition of the Alberto Contador Foundation Cycling Academies Race is possible thanks to the support of the Pinto City Council, the Plaza Éboli shopping centre, the bicycle company Aurum Bikes and Supermercados Froiz, a company that since March this year has a new centre near the circuit where the race takes place. In addition, the social work of Caixabank, the leading real estate company Grupo Egido, industrial supplies Grupo Cobsa, Fermisa graphic production, solutions and equipment for kitchens and bathrooms Discesur and the Emalú Coffee Bar also collaborate intensively with the organisation and celebration of the event.
[📷 Marian Molina ]
