The Euskaltel-Euskadi has announced this Tuesday the seven riders who will compete in the Itzulia Basque Country (April 3-8) in an act held at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and in which the new Euskaltel Orange Tide shirt was presented to encourage the team’s cyclists in the ditches. Mikel Bizkarra, Joan Bou, Carlos Canal, Asier Etxeberria, Unai Iribar, Txomin Juaristi and Gotzon Martín They are the seven runners chosen, to this day, by the sports manager Jorge Azanza to face the Itzulia, the most exciting race of the season before the Basque and orange fans. Canal (Galician) and Bou (Valencian) could not be present.
Jorge Azanza, Sports Director of Euskaltel Euskadi, said that “for us, this race is our Tour. Racing with the UCI World Tour teams is like doing it in the Champions League. We are very excited and eager to let ourselves be seen. I think there are a couple of stages that could be very useful for us and we will be attentive to try to be protagonists. I think we have made a pretty good group and people like Gotzon Martín or Carlos Canal can surprise us”.
At the iconic Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao and accompanied by authorities, sponsors, ex-cyclists, the media and the general public, the main sponsor, Euskaltel, has surrounded the team and its riders with the presence and interventions of Xabier Iturbe, president of Euskaltel, and Jon Ander de las Fuentes , Director of Euskaltel and Group Corporate Territorial Director MoreMobile, in an act held in the Auditorium and conducted and energized by Iker Amarika. Iñaki Isasi, Iván Mallo, Patxi Vila or Bingen Fernández have been seen there, accompanied by Sandra Ni Hodnae, assistant to his team structure. Julián Eraso, president of OCETA, the company that organizes the race, has also been there.
In this sense, Jon Ander de las Fuentes He wanted to highlight that: “Today, with all the enthusiasm in the world, we present our team of riders for Itzulia: our great goal for this season. It is the home race, with the best riders in the world and in the year of cycling par excellence, in which we will experience the privilege of feeling the Tour at home but in which we will also celebrate this race that is so ours, the Itzulia, which for us is our txiki Tour”.
For his part, Xabier Iturbe He pointed out: “I want to emphasize the DNA of this team, which already characterizes it from the quarry. A DNA made up of the right doses of passion and combativeness; to always be in the fight and never give up. For any cycling fan, but even more so for Euskaltel-Euskadi fans, it is enormous pride to see our Euskaltel-Euskadi kids giving their all in each race, being an example of combativeness, effort and sacrifice. Few sports transmit more and better values than cycling. And the Euskaltel-Euskadi is the highest benchmark for those values”.
All the participants in the act, managers of Euskaltel, the Euskadi Foundation, the runners that will be part of the team that will compete in Itzulia and its Sports Director, wanted to encourage all the Basque fans so that, once again, they return to being part of that great Orange Tide that has become the image of the team and its fans in the cycling world. The shirt unveiled today features a Kukuxumuxu design with the goat Beelorzia as protagonist and is a tribute to the best fans in the world. The new Euskaltel Orange Tide shirt will be distributed at all stage arrivals and on the team bus at the start. In addition to the “orange curve” in the Eibar stage, known to all the fans.
After the announcement of the team that will run the Itzulia next week, the sports director Jorge Azanza and the cyclists Mikel Bizkarra and Gotzon Martín have analyzed the route, six stages that will cover from Monday April 3 to Saturday April 8 the territory, from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Eibar, passing through Viana, Leitza, Errenteria, Villabona and Amorebieta-Etxano. A meeting point for the Basque fans and the Euskaltel-Euskadi and its runners, a unique opportunity to dye Álava, Navarra, Gipuzkoa and Bizkaia orange.