The Ruta Via de la Plata – Non Stop/Eurovelo 1 (RVP – Non Stop/Eurovelo 1) is a mountain bike event in the purest randonneur style between Gijón and Seville. In this first version, the event is limited to 500 participants. RVP – Non Stop/Eurovelo 1 forms part of the European initiative Atlantic on Bike and is one of the longest Non-Stop events in Spain.

Coinciding with the full moon in June, the mountain bike event “Ruta Vía de la Plata – Non Stop/Eurovelo 1 (RVP – Non Stop/Eurovelo 1) will start in Gijón. One of the longest non-stop events in Spain, the challenge is to follow the Via de la Plata Route from Gijón to Seville in a maximum time of 100 hours.

Registration for this sporting event is now open and can be carried out directly on the website of RVP – Non Stop/Eurovelo 1 (click here). For this first version, the number of places has been limited to 500. Registration will close when this number is reached or on 15th May. The first 100 participants to register will receive the event’s commemorative jersey.

RVP – Non Stop/Eurovelo 1 will be held from 12th to 16th June. The maximum time to complete the distance between Gijón and Seville has been set at 100 hours. This event, similar in terms of its design to the Andalusia Bike Race or the Madrid-Lisbon, is however longer: 962 kilometres with an accumulated height difference of 10,000 metres.

The Via de la Plata Route goes through towns with a long tradition in cycling, such as Béjar in Castilla y León and Lena in Asturias. These are places where some of the most famous pages in the history of cycling have been written. What is more, the bicycle touring route Eurovelo 1 crosses 10 of the 28 towns belonging to the Cooperation Network of Towns on the Ruta de la Plata.

Eurovelo 1
RVP – Non Stop/Eurovelo 1 is framed in the European Atlantic on Bike initiative which aims to establish Eurovelo 1 as a tourist product. Eurovelo 1 is one of the 15 routes designed by the European Federation of Cyclists within the Eurovelo project. This project will create a network of cycle routes that connect the whole continent and are designed for both tourist and daily use. The network is programmed to reach a total of 70,000 kilometres, of which nearly 40,000 are already functioning.

Eurovelo 1 connects North Cape in Norway with Sagrès in Portugal and, as it goes though Spain, it follows a long section of the Via de la Plata Route. The Cooperation Network has tracked it and ridden some stages, bearing in mind cyclists who dare to follow it all in one go, others who want to discover it little by little and also those who are looking for destinations where they can enjoy their love of cycling. Many places on the Via de la Plata Route are ideal for this kind of activity.

In 2016, the Cooperation Network set up the microsite The Route by Bicycle with useful information for cyclists interested in following this historical route on two wheels, either MTB or road bikes. This initiative was taken in close collaboration with the Cycling Federation of the Principality of Asturias.

Via de la Plata Route
The Via de la Plata Route is a modern tourist route crossing the west of Spain, through four autonomous communities and seven provinces on a north-south line (Gijón to Seville). It is nearly 900 kilometres long and goes through regions with a total area of over 120,00km2. The Route takes in numerous archaeological ruins, left by the passage of different cultures during 2000 years, and important cultural and artistic heritage. The route is also a journey around Spanish gastronomy and a sample of the ecological wealth and variety of landscapes that can be enjoyed in the Iberian Peninsula.