Volvo Ocean Race to start from Alicante in three next editions

If one is to believe Valencia's leading newspaper, Las Provincias, the Volvo Ocean Race will start from Alicante again, not once, not twice but three times. According to an article that appears in today's edition, the president of Valencia's Region, Francisco Camps, will fly to Boston this weekend in order to sign the final agreement with the round-the-world race organization, as announced by the president`s press office.

The Volvo Ocean Race fleet is currently in Boston, having finished the sixth leg of the race and the in-port race will take place on Saturday.

According to the same article, the next edition of the race will be in 2011 and the following ones in 2014 and 2017. Although the route of the next edition hasn't still been finalized, one thing is for sure, it will again start in Alicante. The intention of the organizers is to announce the final route sometime in the first quarter of 2010.

One point that is still not clear concerns the move of Volvo Event Management UK (VEMUK) from England to Alicante. VEMUK is the body that organizes the race and it's Valencia's intention to convince them that it would make sense to also establish their offices in Alicante for the next 9 years.