Sea Otter Europe Girona
Date
Saturday 21.09.2024Distances
129 kmCity
Girona
Country
SpainSea Otter Europe is the cycling festival in Europe, which is organized in the capital city of Girona, on 20, 21 and 22 September 2024.
The festival, during its few years of its existence, has managed to reach astonishing figures: more than 64,000 visitors, +6,000 participants in the sporting events and a total of +402 exhibiting brands, according to last year’s record.
Sea Otter Europe faces its eight editions with a complete sports programme that includes challenges for competitive and amateur attendees, an exhibition area with the best brands on the market, demo circuits ideal for enjoyment and bicycles testing, and a list of activities planned exclusively for the professionals of the industry.
All this in the province of Girona, Costa Brava, which ensures good weather, good gastronomy and a first-class natural environment.
The festival is gaining worldwide recognition among the cycling industry and cycling enthusiasts: in just seven editions, it has become a necessary and must-attend event for the cycling community.
Course
The TREK UCI Gravel World Series Girona 2024 route has a distance of 111km with 1900m of accumulated positive elevation gain and runs through the heart of one of the best-known massifs in the area, the Les Gavarres Massif. Starting in the neighboring town of Girona, Celrà, and with the first kilometers neutralized by asphalt until starting a path with a considerable and long slope until reaching the top, crossing a road, to enter a mountainous area. A chain of wide tracks, with firm and compacted terrain, ideal for practicing the discipline that will lead us to look for flatter terrain through crop fields and rural areas. Later, and around kilometer 46, a tough ascent begins to one of the highest points of Les Gavarres, Puig d’Arques (533m), with the subsequent somewhat technical descent given the irregular orography of the terrain. Once the descent is finished, constant up-downs of little slope and length along wide paths surrounded by leafy vegetation until reaching a very flat and fast part to impose a high pace and before facing the last climb of the day. Finally, the route will continue parallel to the course of the River Ter to reach the Municipal Pavilion of Girona-Fontajau, in the middle of the Sea Otter Europe Girona Costa Brava by Continental festival.
Profile
After the neutralized start, a 5.4km climbs brings riders to a first peak at an average gradient of 6.3%. The terrain keeps on going up and down, but the hardest challenge of the day comes between km 46-54 when an 8km climb at 4.2% average brings participants to the highest point on course at 517m above the sea. The second half of the course has less elevation with climbs varying between 1 and 2.5km and maximum 6%.
Total elevation over the full distance is 2274m.
GIRONA AND THE EXPO
Girona is a city located in the region of Catalonia, in the northeast of Spain, which has become a very popular destination for cycling lovers. The city and its surroundings offer an exceptional environment for practicing this sport, thanks to its beautiful landscape, well-maintained roads and a large number of scenic routes.
An attractive destination for cyclists that includes routes from the Pyrenees mountains and even gentler routes that run along the coast, with a Mediterranean climate ideal for practicing sports all year. The city offers many services and sporting events, like Sea Otter Europe, for riders to create an unforgettable cycling experience.
