During the fifth stage Holguín-Las Tunas (99 km) of the Vuelta Ciclista a Oriente, on 26 February 2023 in Las Tunas, Cuba. PHOTOGRAPH: Calixto N. Llanes/Periódico JIT (Cuba)

The multicoloured caravan of the Vuelta Ciclística a Oriente, which starts this Saturday in the city of Guantánamo and is scheduled to arrive in Ciego de Avila on the 22nd of this month, with eight stages covering just over 900 kilometres.

In the capital of Avila, the last stage of the tour is scheduled to take place on the traditional circuit on the North ring road and Calle Tres, with the start and finish line in front of the Ciego de Avila hotel.

It has already been officially announced that the cyclist Randol Izquierdo will not be part of the local sextet this time, since he will be part of the main Cuban squad that is preparing for several international commitments in the first half of the year.

Randol already got the ticket last year for the Junior Pan American Games in Asunción, Paraguay, and it is expected that other Antillean cyclists will do so in the next qualifying event.

The continental elite, junior and under-23 meeting will be held in Punta del Este, Uruguay, from 23 to 27 April, and for the multiple event in Paraguay, the first 14 places in the road race and the seven places in the individual time trial, women and men, will be awarded quotas.

Cuba has already secured two women’s tickets and one men’s ticket. They were secured by Daymelín Pérez from Holguín, gold in the time trial and silver in the road race, the same category in which Randol won.