Fourteen local cycling teams and several from abroad, including Canada, Colombia, Guadeloupe and the United States, have confirmed their participation in the 35th Independence Cycling Tour. The leading event of its kind in the Caribbean, the annual tour is divided into eight stages that take cyclists on a 1,010km trip all throughout the country. This year, for the first time, cyclists will travel to San Juan de la Maguana, hometown of President Danilo Medina. The event takes place from 20 to 28 February. Dominicans celebrate Independence Day on the 27th. The president of the Dominican Cycling Federation, Jorge Blas Diaz said that the first leg of the competition starts at 9am from Independence Park in Santo Domingo’s Colonial City from where cyclists will take off to cover the 146km stretch to San Pedro de Macoris in the southeast.
The second leg departs at 9am on 21 February from Santo Domingo to Samana (140 km). The third stretch is from Samana to Sanchez and San Francisco de Macoris (136 km). The fourth is a turnaround the Avenida Monumental in Santiago. The fifth takes cyclists to Moca, La Vega, Jarabacoa and Constanza (95 km). The sixth takes cyclists on tour from La Vega to Villa Altagracia and then to Santo Domingo (79 km) in the morning, to compete against the clock in the Mirador del Sur Park in the afternoon (20 km). The seventh stretch is San Cristobal-Bani-Azua-San Juan, a distance of 162 km. The eighth is along the Quinto Centenario expressway (96 km.)
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