TOUR DE FRANCE
With the 110th Tour de France starting in the Basque Country, Adam Becket investigated what makes it so crazy about cycling
Tadej Pogačar had done his homework. The Slovenian is a showman at heart, and strode onto the stage at the Tour de France team presentation with a Basque phrase in his head.
“Aupa Bilbao,” the 24-year-old said. “Aupa Athletic. Gora Euskadi.”
Come on Bilbao. Come on Athletic. Long live the Basque Country.
The six words caused pandemonium outside the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Pogačar’s moment of charm working wonders on the thoroughly sodden crowd. He become an honorary Basque in that moment.
Switch on any bike race in the world, and one of the first things you see will be a red, white, and green flag, a bit like the Union Jack put through a funny wash. This is the ikurrina, the flag of the Basque Country, and it is present at every bike race because the people of this small nation love cycling.
It is seemingly in their blood. The Grand Départ of the Tour de France from Bilbao gave fans ekly the opportunity to show their support at home, rather than travelling the world. Outside the chaos of the stage one village were stalls selling the ikurrina to expectant fans; to say they were popular would be an understatement, with the flag pedlars claiming to have sold 20,000 on Saturday morning alone.
The passion for cycling is everywhere. Just standing outside a bar in Bilbao, an old man spots my Tour de France lanyard and immediately starts talking about the glory days of Spanish or Basque cycling, telling tales of Grand Tour protagonists Miguel María Lasa, Francisco Galdós and Domingo Perurena.
“I cannot explain it, because in the end, cycling has been important for many years, before I was born,” Pello Bilbao, one of the seven Basque cyclists in this year’s Tour, tells me. “Already the times with [Grand Tour stage winners in the ’80s and ’90s] Marino Lejarreta, and Javier Murguialday. We always had a big culture around cycling, competition also.
“This comes because we are quite a small country, and the towns aren’t far from each other, so the bicycle was a good way for moving between towns. Also for kids to go to school. Although the weather is not the best, I think many people use the bikes just to move.
“I’m really excited to see the fans, the Basque fans,” the man from Guernica continues. “Already for two months, it’s all anybody is speaking about at home. It’s going to be super special. Not just for us as riders, but
