Mallorca will once again become the epicentre of international cycling between 25 January and 2 February 2025, with the celebration of the Garden Hotels-Luxcom Challenge Ciclista Mallorca women’s race and the Garden Hotels-Luxcom Challenge Ciclista Mallorca men’s race. This was announced today by Manuel Hernández, director of Unisport Consulting, the company organising the event, to the media at an event held at the Nivia Born Boutique Hotel and attended by the Councillor for Tourism, Culture and Sports, Jaume Bauzà; the Executive Councillor for Tourism of the Consell de Mallorca, José Marcial Rodríguez, and the CEO of Garden Hotels, Gabriel Llobera.
After last year’s success, with the premiere of the first Garden Hotels-Luxcom Challenge Ciclista Mallorca women’s race, the best riders in the international peloton will kick off the season on the island. Over three days, some of the best teams in the international women’s peloton will kick off the season in Mallorca with three trophies to be contested: the Marratxí Trophy (Saturday 25 January); the Palma-Castell de Bellver Trophy (Sunday 26 January) and the Binissalem-Port d’Andratx Trophy (Monday 27 January).
Live television
As was the case last year, fans will be able to follow the development of the stages, both in the women’s and men’s Challenge, live on television, thanks to the agreement with the institutions and their commitment to the Mallorca Cycling Challenge as a strategic event in promoting tourism on the island. In this way, Eurosport and Teledeporte will offer fans around the world the live broadcast of the last kilometres of each of the eight events, the three that make up the women’s Challenge, and the five that make up the programme of the men’s Challenge, through the production of Medialuso.
In the case of the women, the broadcasts of the last hour and a half will begin on Saturday 25 January with the Marratxí Trophy and will continue on Sunday 26 with the Palma Trophy and on Monday 27 with the Binissalem-Port d’Andratx Trophy.
Garden Hotels and Luxcom, with cycling
As in previous editions, Garden Hotels-Luxcom will continue to be the main corporate sponsor of the Challenge Ciclista Mallorca, both in the women’s and men’s categories. For ten days, the caravans of both competitions will stay at the Playa Garden Selection Hotel & Spa and Alcúdia Garden Aparthotel hotels of the Garden Group, an agreement that involves more than 3,000 stays, including athletes, technical teams, organization and national and international media.
“Once again, our commitment to the event, cycling and Mallorca reflects the core values of the Garden Group. This sponsorship not only promotes and positions cycling but also gives us the opportunity to show that tourism and sustainability can go hand in hand, demonstrating how sport is a vehicle for change towards a more responsible and environmentally friendly model,” said Gabriel Llobera, CEO of Garden Hotels.
During the event, held at the Nivia Born Boutique Hotel, an exclusive 5-star hotel in the centre of Palma that is part of the Nivia Hotel Collection, the premium brand of Garden Hotels, Manuel Hernández, director of Unisport Consulting, highlighted the commitment of the institutions to the Challenge and also the advantage of having a sponsor like Garden Hotels: “As happened last year, we are once again concentrating the men’s and women’s events in ten days, so Mallorca will be the world epicentre of cycling at all levels. In addition, the fact that both events are separated by one day facilitates the logistics of the teams and everything that comes with being on an island. I would like to give special thanks to the support of the Consell de Mallorca and the Government, because without their contribution and the commitment they make to our race, it would be impossible to assume the cost of producing the television broadcast, which allows us to exponentially increase the media impact of the event. And I would also like to once again thank the sponsorship of Garden Hotels, which makes its excellent accommodation available so that the international peloton has the best possible conditions.”
For his part, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sports of the Government, Jaume Bauzà, said: “Events such as the Challenge Ciclista Mallorca are fundamental in the strategy that the Government intends to promote in the coming years. The trinomial Tourism, Culture and Sports aims to position the Balearic Islands as a sports tourism destination by supporting major events and competitions such as this one, which are held annually. We are a land of great sportsmen, a success that, in large part, is due to the visibility and promotion that events of this magnitude bring to our islands.”
Meanwhile, the Executive Councillor for Tourism of the Consell de Mallorca, José Marcial Rodríguez Díaz, has expressed his satisfaction with the holding of the event and has assured that “the real challenge with this type of action is to highlight the territorial identity of each of the 53 municipalities on the island”. “Events such as this are necessary tools to change, improve and strengthen the identity of this island”, he added, while highlighting the capacity of events such as this to create a tourist product and also offer attractive activities “to our residents”.