Sam Gaze jumps from MTB to road and will race La Vuelta a España

Two weeks ago he retained his Short Track World Champion title and finished second in the XCO World Championships, but Sam Gaze has decided not to continue with the mountain bike season and will move to the road to race La Vuelta a España 2023.

Sam Gaze decides to participate in La Vuelta a España 2023

The Andorra XCO World Cup starts on Friday and in our review we had put Sam Gaze as one of the favorites for the podium after seeing the great performance he showed in the last MTB World Championship. But the New Zealander had very different plans and has just announced with his team, Alpecin-Deceuninck, that he will not be in the upcoming World Cup races. Instead, he will compete on the road, in La Vuelta a España 2023, and will do so in preparation for the Paris Olympics to be held in July 2024.

Happy to announce I will be starting La Vuelta Ciclista A España. Unfortunately this means I will miss the upcoming two MTB World Cups, but together with the performance management of Alpecin Deceuninck we see having a grand tour in the legs being the best preparation towards the Olympic Games next July, and my development as an athlete as a whole.

Look forward to giving my best these upcoming weeks and seeing what’s possible during a hot lap of Spain with the team.