In Euskadi, the great times of cycling are not called golden. They are called oranges. It is the identifying color of a passion, of a land that is devoted to bicycles and cycling and that carries it in its DNA. All of this is brought together by the color that gave life to Euskaltel-Euskadi, the team that made history with an inexhaustible youth academy, with glorious afternoons to remember in the Tour de France and with fans devoted to the ditches, especially those in the ports. Pyrenees. Today, ten years after the disappearance of the group headed by Miguel Madariaga, only a few remains remain. And the shadow of what one day was.
Because the Euskaltel-Euskadi continues rolling along the roads and continues, of course, with the same colour. But it has nothing to do with those glorious times. Those orange times. The team made up of Iban Mayo, Haimar Zubeldia or Samuel Sánchez, led by Roberto Laiseka or Mikel Nieve, who left their mark on mythical peaks such as Luz Ardiden or Alpe d’Huez, winning stages on the Tour, the mountain jersey won by the Asturian , also an Olympic champion while in the ranks of the Basque team, are only brilliant memories of a past that, for now, has no sign of being reissued. Today’s Euskaltel, which Mikel Landa rescued from financial ruin when it was just an amateur team without sponsors and dying on the verge of disappearing, is today a team with a professional continental license, which will not run the Tour de France that leaves its land , from Euskadi, nor the Vuelta a España that begins on August 27 in Barcelona, since he did not receive an invitation from the organization of the race.
Mikel Landa is precisely one of the few survivors of that fantastic era of the Euskaltel that disappeared in 2013. The cyclist from Alava is the only rider in its history who has gone through all the categories that the Basque team had at the time, from Naturgas, the nursery of young talents for the World Tour team, passing through Orbea and finally making the leap to Euskaltel-Euskadi. Pello Bilbao also wore orange until his disappearance. On Saturday both will start as the leaders of Bahrain-Victorius. Along with them, another five will be the Basque runners who will be on the starting line in Bilbao: Omar Fraile and Jonathan Castroviejo with Ineos, Alex Aranburu and Gorka Izagirre with Movistar and his brother Ion with the colors of Cofidis.
Everyone, with the exception of Aranburu, seasoned cyclists and veterans. That they are of a considerable age for the cycling to come, taking into account that the Pogacars, Van der Poel, Evenepoel and other great stars have lowered the average age of the great stars, slightly exceeding twenty.
two future names
But there is room for hope in this idolized Basque cycling and it has two proper names: that of Oier Lazkano, 23 years old and recently crowned champion of Spain last Sunday, who is the greatest exponent. The man from Vitoria, all power and strength, is on his way to becoming a benchmark classic. The quality pills that bear his signature are treasured in this way, such as second place after Pogacar in the Dwars Door Vlanderen or his victory in Boucles la Mayenne. The other is that of Markel Beloki, son of three-time podium finisher Joseba Beloki in the Tour de France, who is shining in the youth category and dazzling wherever he goes, even with the Spanish team. His is the future of a land that yearns for its next hero, but while he waits for it he will not stop cheering each and every one of the cyclists, wherever they are from. The orange Basque tide, although it is no longer from Euskaltel, will continue to love cycling.
2023-06-28 17:52:39
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