Cycling oozes through the rooms of the Hotel Cap Negret
It is surprising on the road that goes towards Altea, among cyclists who come and go, one from Astana, some from the Baloise Trek, another from Uno yes Bahrain, yes Laboral Kutxa and just opposite a succession of large vertical flags that reveal the Hotel Cap Negret, near the center of Altea and between two great symbols of the area: If you look at the sea from the room or pool, on the left you will recognize the Peñón de Ifach in Calpe and on the right, Serra Gelada, before Benidorm.
For many years, Alicante, its coastline, but especially its interior. They are the stage and hub for the best teams in the world sharpening their shape for the road season that is just beginning.
Es a temperate zone, with unique hardnessperfect for preseason training, well connected internationally and with a decades-old hotel tradition.
This confluence of factors has made what was just that years ago, an orchard for cycling, today a theme park of cyclists and stars from half the worldconfiguring a very unique map of teams and concentrations during the months of December and January.
The Hotel Cap Negret is the result of this reality, a hotel that “during these winter months, especially in December and January, has a capacity of between 300 and 400 people who come to enjoy cycling.”
Rubén Martínez, the hotel’s operations manager, tells us, who leaves us a headline: “We adapt to the cyclist and not the other way around.”
Cycling in the environment
The Cap Negret is a hotel that dispenses with presentation, just entering its reception you breathe that cycling atmosphere, often coinciding with people you have seen or are going to see on television.
Kilometer zero of Mohoric’s San Remo or the Tour de Pello Bilbao is hereyou see them, you greet them, they talk to you, they show you the gratitude that the average cyclist usually shows when you reveal an almost unconditional admiration.
Bicycles that appear in the rooms
This has been the case for about five years: “In 2019 the hotel took a different direction, from being a vacation hotel, we took advantage of the good weather in our area to renovate and exploit this type of tourism,” Rubén tells us.
Cycling hanging on the walls
His name is Miguel Soro, you will know him from his work, always with cycling at the core.
We have seen him in many places, at the presentation of the Volta, he made his poster last year, in Andorra, where we interviewed Nairo, but where he is based is at the Cap Negret hotel.
We recognize a Chaba, a Pantani, an Alaphilippe and a Colbrelli on the same wall, while we spend some time at the bar table with Haimar Zubeldia.
You take this intangible with you from the hotel, an experience that is sublimated when Miguel offers a live painting show: «It fills us with many common areas, from historic ones like Merckx and Ocaña to a Cancellara that we have on the 3rd floor that I love.«.
The dining room is another curious place.
When you sit in it, you do so among cyclists from half the world, quiet and focused, alone or in a group, but all with clear things about what to eat and what not to try, performance on the road is pressing.
«We pay a lot of attention to food. We all know the importance of diet for the cyclist.. You can have breakfast from half past six and we can extend it until four or so in the afternoon if there is a long training session. They appreciate it«.
Beneath the hotel hides a swarm of corridors and boxes in the more than 3,000 square meters of parking in which up to seven teams have been able to coincide among all the boxes.
Here they have everything to work with, including water and electricity connections for their trucks.
If you are an individual it is not a problem: «The cyclist who comes has his private boxes, they can access them with the room key. Also included is the use of free laundry, washing area, greasing area, tool area, vending machine with nutrition products and tools.
That is “The amateur cyclist has the same treatment as a pro«.
cyclists who are active and retired who are still linked to this sport, like Cancellara, sports directors who have been icons
The services are completed with a spa area equipped for recovery, a gym and meeting rooms for briefings prior to departures or meetings of brands and product managers, as we were able to witness,
A couple of routes?
Departure one day to Coll de Rates and the next to Coll de Tudons, with a variety of routes, beautiful landscape and the almost certainty that you will meet great stars of world cycling on the route.
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2024-02-13 23:02:08
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