Special coverage presented by Pancho Villas 

The 2019 Latin circuit will celebrate a historic third stage in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, starting this Thursday and running through Sunday. The tournament will be the highest-scoring and highest-paying tournament of the year, with $35.0000 and six stars, and for this reason there are already more than 60 surfers registered for the tournament.

Below are all the details of what you need to know to follow one of the most interesting stages of an ALAS in recent years.

1: It is the first time in history where an ALAS is held at the most famous beach break in the world. Other Latin Tour tournaments had been held in Mexico, but not at Zicatela.

2: Zicatela beach in Puerto Escondido It is the most famous because tubular waves from half to 20 meters high consistently break there, something that happens in very few places in the world.

While the big wave season runs from March to September, the sea remains consistent throughout the year, with offshore windy mornings and plenty of barrels.

3: EThe forecast for the days of the tournament shows well-organized one-meter waves with a period ranging from 13 to 18 seconds. The best day for waves, as shown in the forecast, is Saturday.

4: There are already more than 60 surfers registered in four categories: Open men, open women, junior and longboard. Among them, the presence of the former ISA world champion, Analí Gómez from Peru, the local big rider Isabelle Leohardt, the top 10 Pan American Shelby Detmers, the former ISA world champion Jhony Corzo, the current Latin champion Jonathan Gato Chila and the former Latin champion Martín Passeri stands out.

Also noteworthy is the presence of local youth Sebastián Williams, César and Tehuen Petroni, Gael Jimenez, Rey Hernández and Sasha Donnanno.

5: Several legends of Mexican surfing will participate in the event:Multi-time Mexican champion Roberto Salinas, giant tamer José Ramírez and power surfer Raúl Noyola.   

6: Key points to determine the Latin champion They will be on hand in Mexico. There were two stages of ALAS this year, one in Chile and the other in Peru, and the same number of points were distributed between the two as this week in Puerto Rico; the Aztec tournament is six stars and the other two were three each. The tournament will be key for the ladies as well, it will be a five-star tournament that can turn everything around since the previous stages were one and three stars.

7: An interesting prize pool of 35.000 dollars will be distributed; for the male winner the grand prize will be $6.000 and for the female winner $2800.

8: The Latin ranking has as its leader the young great Chilean talent Noel de la Torre who narrowly beat Peruvian Juninho Urcia (4080 to 3975). Close behind are Duende Cross (3690) and Jonathan Gato Chila Zambrano (3660). Considering that the two remaining stages will add 12600 points to the ranking and that there will be four eliminations, all this can change.

In the women's category, Analí Gómez from Peru is the leader, beating Rosany Alvarez from Venezuela and Paloma Santos from Chile by a mere 70 points (2070 to 2000). Alvarez is still ahead because she has 2000 points from the last stage in Barranca.

9: United States is welcome to ALAS:San Diego, California-based surfer Jacbob Szekely will be competing in the tournament, becoming one of the most high-profile American athletes ever to compete in a ALAS event.

After the tour was a qualifier for Lima 2019, the door was opened to the entire continent, and Canadians will also be able to compete.

10: The event can be watched live on www.alaslatintour.com