Tirador (velodrome)

About

Tirador (Catalan: Velòdrom del Tirador or Velòdrom de Tirador) is a velodrome in Palma (Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain). It is an outdoor track cycling, opened in 1903, and used to be the most important velodrome built in Spain for six decades until the construction of the Velódromo de Anoeta (San Sebastián) in 1965. Tirador was closed in 1973 and still exists but is no longer in use. It was the leading cycling track in Spain for six decades until the construction of Velódromo de Anoeta (San Sebastián) in 1965. Since 2015 is municipally owned, and in 2020 it was declared a Listed Building by the Palma City Council. Closed for years, it suffered a process of abandonment and progressive degradation. The City Council planned to demolish it to build a green area; but it was saved in extremis thanks to the actions of various groups fighting for the conservation, such as the Associació de Veïns des Fortí and citizen initiatives, particularly the researcher Manuel García Gargallo, who achieved the preservation and publicized its historical and cultural value. This led Palma City Council, which had initially planned to demolish it to create a park, to rehabilitate it for the same purpose. This led to the withdrawal of the initial project in favor of another that preserves the track and will be carried out between 2027 and 2028 to incorporate it into the so-called Palma Urban Forest.

Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.