Rabat – According to AS, the Madrid sports daily, a delegation from Morocco visited Spain to “evaluate the possibilities of a joint project in the future”. The Moroccan delegation traveled to Alicante to meet the organizers of La Vuelta.
The Spanish daily reported, on August 27, that the organizers of La Vuelta wish to visit North Africa.
La Vuelta has previously been launched in countries other than Spain. The Tour started in Lisbon in 1997, in Assen (Netherlands) in 2009, then in Nîmes (south of France) in 2017. The Dutch city of Utrecht is expected to host La Vuelta in 2020.
Cited by AS, La Vuelta’s director, Javier Guillén, said that future versions of La Vuelta in North Africa “will one way or another involve Morocco.”
The president of the Royal Moroccan Cycling Federation (FRMC), Mohamed Belmahi, confirmed to the Moroccan news outlet TelQuel that he is in contact with his Spanish counterparts.
He also confirmed discussing the possibility of Morocco organizing a phase of La Vuelta in the coming years. The discussions even included the possibility of launching the Tour in Morocco, he added.
However, Belmahi clarified that “for the moment it is only discussions going, for the moment, in the right direction. No agreement has been sealed.”
He, nevertheless, welcomes the prospect of a Moroccan phase of La Vuelta, emphasizing how it would “highlight Moroccan cycling and its good reputation on the continent.”
Belmahi told TelQuel that “Morocco can be proud of having the most regular tour of the continent, and especially the only African tour with 10 phases.”
The Kingdom also hosts other high-level competitions such as “L’étape Morocco” by Tour de France (organized in Marrakech) and the Sahara Tour. According to Mohamed Belmahi, Morocco is also a candidate for the organization of the 2025 version of the World Cycling Championships.
