The best cycling meets at the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior 2024: favorites and how to watch

The road cycling season is starting to get interesting with the arrival of the traditional triptych of classics in southern Spain. The dispute of Murcia and Almería will give way to a race that, celebrating only its third edition, has already become one of the favorites among professionals, boasting a luxurious participation in this 2024. Let's enjoy the spectacle of the dirt sections of the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior 2024 which will take place next Monday, February 12th.

The dirt sections and the best cyclists will spice up the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior 2024

It seems incredible but, with only two editions disputed, the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior is on its way to becoming one of the most important races at the beginning of the season thanks to its strategic placement in the calendar, after the start of the European season in which the Challenge de Mallorca, Estrella de Bessegues and Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana have been disputed and as a prelude to the Vuelta a Andalucía.

In addition, it is held on what has become the weekend of the Southern Spain Classics, even though it is held on Monday, and which links the Vuelta Ciclista a la Región de Murcia, which has been a one-day race for several years now; Clásica de Almería and this Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior 2024.

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In addition to the dates, the appeal of being a race in the style of Strade Bianche has made some of the best cyclists become interested in it, especially the classics as a first approach to the classics campaign. In fact, we still have in our mind the exhibition that Tadej Pogacar gave us last year. In this edition, the competition for victory will be even fiercer.

Favorites to win the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior 2024

The participation in this Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior 2024 is truly enviable, despite being a category 1.1 race, the third level in the UCI categorization, it will have at the start a cast worthy of many World Tour races.

Firstly, the presence of none other than Wout van Aert, on his second day of competition after having competed the previous day in the Clásica de Almería, presumably to regain competition rhythm, undoubtedly places him as the number 1 favorite for victory at the finish line in Úbeda accompanied by a large part of the Visma-Lease a Bike squad, in whose starting lineup we also find the winner of La Vuelta a España Sepp Kuss and men as solid on a course of these characteristics as Robert Gesink.

He will face a UAE Team Emirates in which Tadej Pogacar will not be present, delaying his entry into competition to save himself to the maximum in anticipation of the tough challenge that awaits the Slovenian trying to be competitive in both Giro d'Italia and Tour de France. However, the Emirati team also has a favorite in the bets in the form of Juan Ayuso who, this year, starts the season properly after forgetting the Achilles tendon injury that kept him dry all the beginning of 2023. As lieutenants he will have men like Marc Soler, who showed a fantastic form in Challenge de Mallorca or an indomitable Tim Wellens who moves like a fish in water in this type of races as demonstrated by the third place achieved in the 2023 edition.

The third in discord, INEOS Grenadiers, presents at the start its great leader, Carlos Rodríguez who, let's not forget, already knows what it is to do well in the sterrato as he demonstrated a couple of seasons ago in Strade Bianche, being the only one capable of responding to the attack of an unstoppable Tadej Pogacarr although he finally did not get a reward in the form of a place on the podium. He will be accompanied in his search to start the season in the best possible way by the always efficient Omar Fraile, Ben Turner, second last year; and an old rocker like Michal Kwiatkoski.

There is also interest in seeing what Movistar Team can bring, which presents a team, on paper, ideal to give battle throughout the race with a high-quality lineup made up of cyclists like Iván Romeo, his namesake García-Cortina, Carlos Canal, Gonzalo Serrrano, the Spanish Champion Oier Lazkano.

Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale completes the list of participating World Tour teams, in their case with Ben O’Connor as the most notable name. The list of squads is completed by the Spanish Pro Teams: Euskaltel Euskadi, Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, Kern Pharma and Burgos-BH, who will want to do well in a race that, due to the relevance it has gained, offers them a tremendous showcase.

Route of the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior 2024

The Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior 2024 could well be called going around the hills of Úbeda as it is around this beautiful Andalusian town where most of the dirt sections that make up these tests are located, two of them repeated one in three times and the other with 4 passes, which makes this test also a fantastic spectacle for those who can escape on a Monday to see the test at the foot of the road.

162 kilometers that will start from the neighboring Baeza to head, in a first contact stage towards Linares. After this first loop of about 45 kilometers, the succession of dirt sections begins, a total of 12 sectors, 4 more than in 2023, totaling just over 67 km on dirt with special relevance to the final circuit around Úbeda, with two sections in addition to the tough climb up to the town that hosts the arrival to which the cyclists will have to give 3 laps.

An demanding race, with good weather almost guaranteed, both cycling and landscape spectacle with the seas of olive trees that characterize the province of Jaén and the hills that surround Úbeda for a race called to continue gaining relevance in the start of season calendar thanks to its attractive proposal.

Where to watch the Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior 2024

Both Eurosport and RTVE have committed to the broadcasting of this Clásica Jaén Paraíso Interior 2024, which will take place next Monday, February 12 with a coverage that will start at 15:00 in both cases. In the case of Eurosport through its channel Eurosport 2 and its online platform both web and mobile app.