The Vuelta a Ibiza MTB Scott 2020: sport, culture and world heritage in the country's oldest stage race

The 20th edition of the Vuelta a Ibiza MTB Scott will start on April 10th. This is a reference race by stages at worldwide level, which sold out the 1,000 bibs for this edition in just 44 minutes. This year it will feature the great novelty of a 5 km prologue stage that will cover the town centre and several areas recognised as World Heritage sites on the island.

Vuelta a Ibiza MTB Scott 2020, the challenge that allows you to enjoy the charms of a unique island

The Vuelta a Ibiza MTB Scott offers a unique opportunity for mountain bike and nature lovers to enjoy all the charms that the island has to offer apart from the cliché of "party town". On this 20th anniversary of the race, institutions, sponsors and organizers have redoubled their efforts to ensure that the trails, beautiful landscapes, dream beaches, emblematic architecture and excellent cuisine of the island will forever be part of the memories of all participants.

The best evidence that this is a very special mountain bike event is that 40% of the registered participants are repeaters. In addition, another 30% of the participants are foreigners who greatly value the excellent climate offered by the island during the month of April and the opportunity to enjoy the beaches of Ibiza in spring.

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In parallel to the sports race, the organization has also thought of all the companions, offering them a very pleasant program of excursions. Thus, while the participants enjoy mountain biking, the companions will enjoy discovering the most picturesque places of the island accompanied by specialized guides.

In 2014 the Vuelta a Ibiza MTB lost Bartolo Planells as the alma mater of the event. Since then, a great team led by Juanjo Planells, the brain of the race, and Xicu Serrano, who led his first race at the age of 19, along with the support of more than 200 volunteers, have made the race more popular every year and have managed to reach the twentieth edition with an enviable reputation. A large part of the success of the Vuelta a Ibiza has to be attributed to its main sponsor Scott, who supports the project and manages to increase its visibility on an international level within the mountain bike.

During the presentation of the race, Planells said that every year they work with the ambitious objective that "this Tour of Ibiza will be the most important race in the world". He also made a statement to cyclist Enrique Morcillo, from the Buff Scott team, saying that this year there is a possibility that for the first time a Pitiuso cyclist will win the race.

For his part, Enrique Morcillo, also present at the presentation and one of the best specialists in this type of event in Spain, declared that he hopes to break the record of attendance for this edition and "that they get to know Ibiza in the best way, which is by riding a bike and doing sport".

The Vuelta a Ibiza MTB Scott has equal cash prizes for both the 10 female and male couples. In addition, this year may be the first to be awarded the Bartolo Planells prize, created in 2014 and worth 6,000 euros. That will be granted to the couple that manages to win 3 consecutive years the test. The Portuguese Celina Carpinteiro and the English Chalotte Davies from the Loulé/Elevis MTB team have a good chance of taking home the prize, so far nobody has managed to do so.

Overview of the stages of the Vuelta a Ibiza SCOTT 2020

Prologue Stage

• 5km
• 180m climbing
• Start and finish in the port of Ibiza

The start of the Vuelta a Ibiza MTB SCOTT 2020 will take place in the port of Ibiza so that the participants can compete against the clock in the town centre and in the areas recognised as "World Heritage". This year is the 20th anniversary of this recognition and, coincidentally, it coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Vuelta a Ibiza MTB SCOTT

The route will have a combination of streets, steps, passages, footpaths, wide tracks and even some technical trails, with approximately 35% of the route going along dirt tracks and passing by the most emblematic places in the city such as "Dalt Vila", Necropolis, Town Hall, Santa Lucia Bastion and the "Portal de ses taules". 

Stage 1

• 38km
• 1000m climbing
• Start: Ibiza town 
• Finish: Playa del Arenal, Sant Antoni de Portmany

The first stage of La vuelta a Ibiza MTB SCOTT 2020, which will be held on Friday the 10th of April, will connect two of the most important towns on the island, linking Ibiza Town with the town of Sant Antoni de Portmany.

This is a XCO stage (the shortest of the route, if we don't take into account the opening prologue), with a distance of 38km but with 1000m of vertical ascent, which will require the participants to work hard on some of the sections.

The stage will pass through areas that are not very populated, linking paths and wide tracks, with short distance climbs but with a great difference in level.

The arrival of the stage will take place at the Arenal Beach, from where some of the cyclists will coincide with one of the most spectacular sunsets in the Mediterranean. 

Stage 2

• 86km
• 2200m climbing
• Start: Santa Eulalia
• Finish: Sant Antoni

The queen stage of the Vuelta a Ibiza MTB SCOTT 2020 will be held on Saturday 11th April. It will start in the other largest town on the island, which had not yet visited the Vuelta during the first stage. The route will run through the northwest of the island, making almost the entire perimeter of the island from the north to the finish in Sant Antoni de Portmany.

This stage is a route that is already common in the Vuelta a Ibiza, and it will be remodelled in its last few kilometres so that bikers can get to know more of the coastal areas of the municipality of Sant Antoni, such as the Punta Galera area and its seafront boulevard.

Stage 3

• 72km
• 1700m climbing
• Start and finish in Sant Antoni 

The last stage in the last editions of the Vuelta a Ibiza MTB SCOTT 2020 tended to be the shortest, but on this 20th anniversary, it has been decided to incorporate another, longer and more demanding route. The cyclists will be climbing the most famous peaks in Ibiza, such as Sa Capelleta, Puig d'en Serra (known for its concrete ramp, which climbs 230 metres in just 1.5 km) and Sa Talaia (the highest mountain on the island).

As the icing on the cake and for the enjoyment of the participants, the stage runs in its last part through a flatter area, although demanding due to the broken and stony terrain, where you can enjoy good views of the sea, areas of spectacular cliffs and the best beaches on the island such as Cala Compte and Cala Bassa.