After the long covid-19 pandemic, the city of Cangas de Onís once again became the capital of cycle tourism on the occasion of the thirtieth edition of the Lagos de Covadonga Challenge by Total Energies, in which nearly 3,000 athletes took part, including them the current Director of Sports of the Principality of Asturias, Aida Nuño; the mayor of Nava, Juan Cañal; and the delegate of Sporting de Gijón, Mario Cotelo.
In the run-up to the start, specifically on the balcony of the Town Hall, the Navastur Cycling Club and the City Council of Cangas de Onís, as organizers of the event, together with Unipublic SA, paid tribute to Sierense Aida Nuño, the best Spanish cyclocross runner in history, with seven elite national titles and another two in the junior category. In addition, in 2016 she was seventeenth in the Cyclocross World Championship.
Likewise, distinction was paid to Cristina Álvarez Mendo, president of the Aramo Cycling Club, organizer of the Vuelta a Asturias, the only woman at the head of a professional cycling round in Spain, being honored with several gifts by the organizers. It is worth as a sample button that in Europe there are only two other women as heads of cycling races: the director of the Tour of Austria and the director of the Tour of Poland.
After the formal cut of the exit tape, on Avenida de Covadonga, which was also attended by the mayor of Cangas de Onís, José Manuel González Castro; the mayor of Sports, Agustín García; Sergio Piquero, president of CC Navastur; and Javier Guillén, general director of Unipublic SA, among others, the cyclists faced -with occasional showers during the itinerary- the two formats of the test: Gran Fondo, 111 kilometers and final in Los Lagos; and Medio Fondo, east of 90 kilometers.
In the afternoon, again in the town of Cangues, in the El Lleráu area, the great cycling festival rewarded the youngest and most veteran participants, both men and women. In boys, Jon Garaizar Echevarría and Eulalio Fernández González, 16 and 78 years old, respectively; while in girls they were Irati Ibabe Arenaza, 20, and Victoria Santos Álvarez, 67 years old. The club with the most participating cyclists, Cisal de Salamanca, with 19 registered, was also awarded.
