Barcelona wants to make the most of the major sporting events that it will host soon to "relaunch" "the best Barcelona", the best image of the city in the world. This was expressed today by the mayor Jaume Collboni during the symbolic act of twinning of two of these great competitions, La Vuelta España 2023, which starts tomorrow in the streets of the Catalan capital, and the Copa del América 2024, which will be held in Barcelona waters within a year.
Collboni has presided over the Somorrostro beach, in Barceloneta, where a spectacular marine platform has been installed from where the team time trial that serves as a prologue to the cycling round will start tomorrow, the symbolic act of twinning of La Vuelta a España and the America's Cup, In the presence of the Mayor of Barcelona and David Escudé, Councilor for Sports, the heads of the organization of these two sports events, Javier Guillén and Grant Dalton, respectively, have exchanged the shirts of both competitions with the sea as a backdrop.
The mayor pointed out that “big international sporting events contribute to improving the quality of life in the city. "They leave us a positive and constructive legacy, a legacy of transmitting the values of sport, fair competition, effort, and they will leave us very important income for the local economy of Barcelona", added Jaume Collboni to justify the strong commitment of his government for attracting this type of sports competition to the city.
Collboni has recalled the historical past of the place chosen for the start of La Vuelta and the great symbolic charge it contains. “This beach – he said – was home to a barracks neighborhood where 15,000 people lived in very precarious conditions and who aspired to live better. Now it is a free space, open and accessible to all and expresses the progress of the city and its will to improve the quality of life of the people of Barcelona”.
"It is the prettiest and most incredible starting stage that we have ever done", highlighted the general director of the Vuelta Ciclista a España, Javier Guillén, from the glass platform suspended over the sea and at the foot of the red walkway where the cyclists will start this afternoon when the initial shot of La Vuelta 2023 is given. Guillén has valued the connection capacity of the Vuelta: “We connect places, people and today, thanks to Barcelona, we connect with one of the great worldwide sporting events such as the Copa del América”. For all these reasons, the head of the cycling competition claims that "in the coming year Barcelona will become the capital of the world of sport".
For his part, the general director of the America's Cup, New Zealander Grant Dalton, has confirmed his idyll with Barcelona, the city chosen by the holders of the Hundred Guineas Jug to defend the title. "It is one of the most extraordinary places on the planet," said Grant Dalton, who celebrates that this city is the setting for the Copa América and La Vuelta, of which he ensures that many Copa América athletes are already present in the capital Catalan will continue this weekend.
Dalton has also praised the transformation of the Barcelona coastline after attending Mayor Collboni's explanations about the conquest of Somorrostro and other Barcelona beaches for the enjoyment of citizens.
