This afternoon saw the inauguration of the fifth edition of the Sea Otter Europe Costa Brava-Girona Bike Show, the major international cycling festival that continues until Sunday at Fontajau pavilion in Girona. In addition to exhibitors and cyclists, participants from more than 35 countries are set to attend while one hundred journalists from all over the world have been accredited for the international event, which will transform Girona and the Costa Brava into the European cycling capital.

This afternoon the public began to fill the festival’s expo zone, where bikes, accessories and components are presented by more than 200 brands from Austria, Poland, Andorra, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Switzerland, France, Czech Republic, Portugal, United States and Spain. Almost 20,000 people have already booked their free ticket, which is required this year to gain entry and ensure that capacity limitations and Covid-19 measures are complied with.

Visitors began to try out the bikes they had booked in the Demobike area, one of the most popular spaces at the festival, where up to 200 bike models from 20 different brands can be tested on different circuits close to the festival site. So successful is the programme that bike bookings have exceeded predictions.

The inauguration was attended by the mayor of Girona, Marta Madrenas, the general secretary of Sport and Physical Activity, Anna Caula, the vice-president of the Catalan Cycling Federation, Carles Ferrer, and the director of the festival, Albert Balcells.

The competition gets underway with a highlight: the E-Bike World Cup

The sports programme of Sea Otter Europe kicked off with one of the highlights of this year’s edition: the first ever World E-Bike Series – the World Cup of e-MTB, organised by the UCI – to take place in Spain. The international circuit was launched in 2019 in Monaco and this year will consist of six races, one of them in Girona as part of Sea Otter Europe. The women’s race was hard fought, with victory for Sandra Santanyes, after a tight last lap alongside Denmark’s Malene Degn. In the men’s category, the Netherlands’s Jeroen Van Eck took first spot after a sprint battle with the current world champion, France’s Jerome Gilloux.

A top-drawer programme for tomorrow, Saturday

Tomorrow the festival area will be in full swing with races as varied as the Canyon Pirinexus Challenge, the Scott Marathon Series, with UCI points up for grabs for professionals, the Copa Catalunya children’s MTB, the nostalgic MTB Classic and the second round of the E-Bikes world championship race.

For more information about the programme, visit www.seaottereurope.com