Digital Manager · La Vuelta
Gonzalo Sanz-Gadea
I lead digital at La Vuelta, one of cycling's three Grand Tours.
I plan the editorial calendar, run the live room every stage and deliver sponsors' digital across Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X and Facebook. Based in Madrid; previously London and Buenos Aires.
La Vuelta in numbers
- Live497M
video views at La Vuelta 26, +84% vs 2024
- 022.9M
followers, up from 2.6M (+11%)
- 03~40
people directed live every stage
- 04~100
pieces published per race day
- 0531
sponsors whose digital I deliver
What I do at La Vuelta
Digital Manager · La Vuelta – Unipublic (Amaury Sport Organisation) · Madrid · Nov 2025 – present · Full-time, permanent
I lead all digital for the race: social, video, paid and partner content, during the three weeks of racing and across the year-round calendar.
Strategy & editorial planning
- I write the annual communications plan and the community managers' editorial plan.
- I keep the channels active all year: route presentations, the sponsor ProAm and La Vuelta es Más, the race's CSR programme, where I lead digital.
Live race operations
- I run the live room every stage, set the priorities and make most calls myself; only the most sensitive go to the communications director.
- On site, community managers and a videographer capture before and after the stage; off site, the video unit clips from the TV feed. Content goes live within minutes.
- Covered on site: La Vuelta 26, La Vuelta Femenina and the Tour de France Grand Départ in Barcelona.
Sponsors & partnerships
- I'm the single point of contact for sponsors' digital: contracted editorial content, activations, meetings, travel and debriefs.
- Upsold additional digital packages to sponsors.
- Built collaborations with Formula 1, FIA WRC (via Automobile Club de Monaco), the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, LaLiga, AS Monaco and 10+ football clubs, plus a network of creators and influencers.
Sign-off, moderation & brand safety
- I agree and sign off every sponsor deliverable with the sponsor before it goes live.
- I set the community moderation guidelines before each race; the community team applies them.
- Led the digital response to a mid-race creator controversy.
Team, paid & performance
- I line-manage 2 direct reports and coordinate a 5-person shared team, from design to community management. In race, the team grows with 4 community managers, 7 photographers, a videographer and a 21-person video unit.
- I manage €111K a year in paid media, mostly Meta Ads.
- I measure performance with Metricool, Camaleonic Analytics and Piano Analytics, and use Claude in content workflows.
Built at La Vuelta
Influencer social rides
I created them: 1 in 2026, 3 planned for 2027.
Interactive stage routes
The race's first, with komoot: maps, elevation profiles and real-time data.
Cross-sport content
Collaborations that bring cycling to Formula 1, WRC, tennis and football audiences.
Before La Vuelta
Marketing & Communications Associate · Janus Allies & IoT Tribe
London · Mar – Nov 2025 · Full-time
Communications for a tech accelerator running programmes with NATO DIANA and the UK Ministry of Defence.
- Data-led content roadmap: shares +337%, followers +306%, impressions +223%.
- Rebuilt the brand guidelines and built the website from scratch.
- Hybrid events with 300+ attendees; press mentions doubled quarter on quarter.
- Moved on to lead digital at La Vuelta.
Global Marketing & Communications Strategist · Proyeco S.A.
Buenos Aires · Oct 2024 – Mar 2025 · 6-month ICEX Vives programme
Social and communications strategy for a group of four engineering companies.
- CRM nurture flows lifted MQL-to-SQL conversion from 18% to 32% in five months.
- Account-based campaigns for public-sector buyers in Europe and Latin America.
- Wrote the marketing plan for Railtec after its acquisition.
Marketing Strategy & Insights Analyst · Samy Alliance
Madrid · Feb – Sep 2024 · 6-month contract
- Audience intelligence and social listening for international clients, with reports delivered in 24 hours.
- Influencer campaigns and go-to-market plans.
- Five analyses published by Marketing Directo (see Insights & press).
Earlier
Madrid · 2019 – 2024
- Freelance community manager: set up and ran four social channels from scratch (alltime).
- Internships: customer campaigns and Google Analytics trend reports (Fintonic); a recycling campaign with Ecoembes and CRM workflow improvements (Aplus Field Gastromarketing).
- Matchday sponsor and VIP guest service at Real Madrid's Santiago Bernabéu.
Education & more
- BSc (Hons) Marketing, University of Kent (2020 – 2023). Treasurer of the Consulting Society and the Spanish Society.
- Marketing Board Advisor, The Cognity (since 2026).
Skills
- Social media management
- Editorial planning & content calendars
- Live event coverage
- Real-time publishing
- Short-form video
- Content approvals & sign-off
- Community management & moderation
- Brand safety
- Crisis response
- Sponsor & partner activation
- Rights-holder partnerships
- Creator & influencer partnerships
- Stakeholder management
- Team leadership & line management
- Paid social (Meta Ads)
- Social listening & analytics
- Sports marketing
- Platforms
- Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, Facebook
- Analytics
- Metricool, Camaleonic Analytics, Piano Analytics, Google Analytics
- Paid
- Meta Ads Manager
- AI
- Claude
- Languages
- Spanish (native), English (C2), French (elementary)
References
“Building our marketing and communications delivery from the ground up.”
“I had the pleasure of working with Gonzalo during his time as MarComms Associate, where he played a crucial role in building our marketing and communications delivery from the ground up. Gonzalo took ownership for our outreach processes, leading on campaigns and publications across our defence and dual-use initiatives, which is instrumental in how we presented ourselves to the ecosystem.”
Read more
“What stood out most was Gonzalo’s dedication and ethos. His work directly contributed to substantial increases in ecosystem engagement and a consistent growth in readership across our channels. Beyond his core responsibilities, he was eager to develop new skills and apply them immediately. For example, building a new website for our organisation from scratch. This not only demonstrated his technical adaptability, but also his willingness to go above and beyond in contributing to the team’s success.”
“Gonzalo is proactive, highly organised, and a strong team player. He grows quickly in his role and consistently looks for new ways to innovate. I would highly recommend Gonzalo to any organisation looking for someone passionate about building and growing new ideas and opportunities.”
Sam BirdDirector of Operations, Janus Allies “Proactive, creative and strategic. A great asset to any organisation.”
“I had the pleasure of working with Gonzalo at Janus Allies. He is proactive, creative and strategic in [his] thinking. Gonzalo strengthened our positioning with stakeholders and delivered impactful campaigns. He brought energy, kindness and an international perspective to the team. A great asset to any organisation.”
James MurrayAccelerator Manager, NATO DIANA & UKDI “His ability to analyze and cross-reference data was key to identifying valuable trends and insights.”
“Gonzalo joined our Marketing team with a focus on Data & Research, during which time he showed remarkable growth and a great commitment to his work. During his time with us, he developed skills in the creation of research methodologies, handling both big data collection platforms and desk research techniques.”
Read more
“His ability to analyze and cross-reference data was key to identifying valuable trends and insights.”
“He demonstrated adaptability in working on large projects, such as research papers, and social listening assignments, which often required quick and accurate responses. His creativity and dedication to delivering results was evident in every task he took on. Gonzalo certainly has a promising future in the field, and it was a pleasure to see him develop in our team.”
Ariannaly PeaSamy Alliance “Commitment, responsibility, dedication, curiosity and desire to do more things.”
“I had the pleasure of working with Gonzalo during his summer internship, and in this time Gonzalo showed commitment, responsibility, dedication, curiosity and desire to do more things. The sum of these skills is what the world needs today.”
Jorge Luis JiménezHead of Growth, Fintonic (translated from Spanish)
Insights & press
- PodcastImpulsores Digitales, episode 44 (opens in a new tab)
- Euro 2024Which brands dominated the tournament online (opens in a new tab)
- Oscars 2024250K+ mentions: who social media expected to win (opens in a new tab)
- Shakira effectHow one song boosted Casio and other brands (opens in a new tab)
- TikTok vs UniversalWhat audiences said, and the opening for Instagram (opens in a new tab)
- PrideWhich brands audiences in Spain trusted, and which they called out (opens in a new tab)
- Eras TourEconomic and cultural impact report, delivered in 24 hours
Let's talk
Open to conversations about digital, social and partnerships in live sport.
gonzalosanzgadea@gmail.com