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Shimano is extending its collaboration with Unipublic, offering its neutral race assistance service to all professional riders in Spanish road cycling races.
Beginning formally in 2001, Shimano and Unipublic have been working together for over 20 years to support the work of teams and riders in professional cycling races.
Following recent agreements with the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia organisers, today’s renewal continues Shimano’s ability to provide official technical services to riders in all Grand Tours, many World Tour one-day and stage races, plus the Olympic Games and the World Championships.
The team of professionals from the neutral assistance service of the recently created Shimano Iberia office will support riders competing in the races organised by Unipublic such as La Vuelta or its women’s counterpart, the Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta. It will also do so in other events on the Spanish calendar with which Unipublic collaborates, such as the Volta a Catalunya or the Itzulia.
“The different pieces that make up the gearing of a grand tour have to work like a clock and the technical assistance to the riders is, without a doubt, one of those key pieces,” said La Vuelta director Javier Guillén. “For us, it is fundamental to benefit from the professionalism and experience of a company like Shimano, with whom we have more than 20 years of impeccable work in top-level races, such as La Vuelta or the women’s race Ceratizit Challenge by La Vuelta.”
Eduardo Roldán, general manager of Shimano Iberia, added: “For us, it is a great pleasure to be able to continue this project together with Unipublic and to develop this exciting work in such prestigious competitions as La Vuelta. It also allows us to continue to demonstrate our total commitment to cycling, both with teams and riders that we have seen progress over the last 21 years. And finally, we can not and do not want to forget the fans, who make this sport unique and whom we want to continue to thrill stage after stage.”
Shimano Iberia began its 2021 tour just over a fortnight ago in La Volta with a refreshed fleet of blue Shimano vehicles (six cars, two motorbikes and a mobile workshop) as well as 30 neutral (Shimano-branded) bicycles with dropper posts for seat height adjustability, and 40 sets of Dura-Ace wheels for both disc brake usage and rim brake usage.
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