The 43rd Vuelta Ciclística Independencia will start today in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with the presence of 138 cyclists who will start at the Constitutional Court, in front of the well-known Plaza de la Bandera.
According to the president of the Dominican Cycling Federation, Jorge Blas, 23 teams will be pedaling in the classic, 12 of them from abroad, and it will have a distance of 1,184 kilometers.
The foreign teams are Bermuda, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Cuba, Best Buddies Racing, Voler Factory, Gesprom and Premier Racing from the United States, Carithos Bakery (Costa Rica); EDA (Nicaragua), Team Herrera (Colombia) and País de Futuro (Venezuela).
Monday’s stage will be run between this city and Barahona, with a distance of 178 kilometers and the second one will be on Tuesday in the Barahona-Santo Domingo stretch, passing through Azua, Baní and San Cristóbal, with 179 kilometers of route.
On the third day, the return leg will start in Santo Domingo, reach San Pedro de Macorís and return to the capital, ending in the area around the Faro a Colón, with a distance of 156 kilometers.
Likewise, the fourth stage will take place between this city and Samaná with a distance of 178 kilometers; the fifth will be 216 kilometers between Samaná-Nagua-Río San Juan-Gaspar Hernández-Sosúa-Puerto Plata and the sixth will pass through Puerto Plata-Santiago-La Vega-La Virgen-Constanza at 156 kilometers.
For its part, the seventh and last day of the race will be the circuit planned in Mirador Sur, which will have nine cumulative laps in the 90 kilometers of the course.