Half a hundred men and women going 'full throttle' down Papagayo Avenue, up to 55 kilometers per hour, and immediate ascent with maximum effort pulling the bike with pure arm strength up the slope of Jaime Quesada Street, yes, after skillfully dodging the curve of the scare, summarizes the passion for sports and the spirit of overcoming of the handbikers peloton that this Saturday afternoon in Playa Blanca, in the warm south of Lanzarote, offered a great spectacle of speed and skill acclaimed by the public that followed on foot the fourteenth edition of the Vuelta a Playa Blanca Handbike, where the figure of Jonas Van de Steene, Belgian athlete residing in Playa Blanca and world champion of paraciclismo, shone.
The City Council of Yaiza, the Association Lanzarote sin Barreras and the Association para todos Lanza en Canarias join efforts together with the Island Council and Tourism Lanzarote, through its brand Lanzarote European Sports Destination, to promote the progression and visibility of inclusive sport with a unique international event in the Canary Islands that leaves dividends in the local economy. They are athletes, mostly European, who come to Playa Blanca to train between two and six weeks and transmit to the world their experiences welcomed by a privileged tourist destination.
As has been usual during the last years, the Vuelta a Playa Blanca Handbike had two technically different days. The prologue on Friday consisted of an individual time trial of 7.5 kilometers between the villages of La Hoya and Playa Blanca, while on Saturday the show moved to the closed circuit of 2.2 kilometers in the central area of Playa Blanca, where the handbikers used themselves thoroughly to complete the highest number of laps in 55 minutes with the extra motivation of the presence of spectators on both sides of the road.
In this queen event the start was joint, as a collective was the triumph that raised all the participants to the great podium of the victory of adapted cycling. The organization, recognizing the triumph of the fastest of each category, puts the focus on the conquest of the 57 handbikers of ten nationalities with a large group of Danish, German and French athletes.
For the winner Jonas Van de Steene the race was "super hard because of the wind and the quality of the hadbikers that we see that every year come more to Playa Blanca". The Belgian with a Canarian heart highlights Playa Blanca as "a paradise to train and live, for the accessibility and quality of life, and because here, for the climate, we suffer much less the people who are in wheelchairs". The opinion of the champion and the group of handbikers coincides with athletes of other disciplines such as the Olympic and world champions of different classes of sailing that also choose the south of Lanzarote as a base for training and competition.
"We are very satisfied with the organizational balance, the level of acceptance of the athletes and the response of our neighbors, neighbors and visitors for the special affection they profess to the Handbike as a benchmark test of adapted sport. The Handbike is part of the feeling of our people and its growth is virtue of Playa Blanca", notes the Councilor for Sports of Yaiza Ángel Lago, who presided over the awards ceremony in the company of the municipal councilors Beatriz Vázquez and Karina Centeno, the Councilor for Sports of the Cabildo de Lanzarote, Juan Mozón, the director of the Association Lanzarote sin Barreras, José Ángel Vázquez, and the head of the Association para todos Lanza en Canarias, Pierre Amighini.
In the words of Juan Monzón, "the Cabildo is committed to adapted sport and will continue to support the Handbike, so I congratulate Playa Blanca and the City Council of Yaiza because today we have also seen that people have enjoyed a great show with a spectacular time".
On behalf of the municipality, the mayor of Yaiza, Óscar Noda, thanks "all the people, public and private entities that participate in the organization of the Handbike because it is a good example of adding efforts. Our recognition also to the municipal staff who work before, during and after the event, the performance of the Local Police of Yaiza, the support of the volunteers of Civil Protection Yaiza, as well as the participation of the preventive services of all security and emergency bodies".
