2023-07-02 15:19:59
Orange as far as the eye can see. This is what the riders were able to see on Saturday, during the first stage of the Tour de France version 2023, around Bilbao, and this Sunday between Vitoria-Gasteiz and San Sebastian. But why do the fans of the Basque Country, which has the reputation of being a true land of cycling, adorn themselves with this particular color when it comes to welcoming the Tour caravan?
Present on t-shirts, hats, flags… the orange does not refer to the Netherlands but to the colors of the Spanish cycling team Euskatel-Euskadi, although absent from the Grande Boucle this year. Founded in 1994, it has the particularity of being a real team from the Basque Country, because originally it was only made up of runners from the region (Spanish side as well as French side), like politics led by Athletic Bilbao in football.
The team belongs to the Fundacion Euskadi, whose mission is to promote cycling in the Basque Country. Refounded in 2008, it participated thirteen times in the Tour de France between 2001 and 2013 before experiencing a turning point from that date, since in financial difficulty faced with the increase in World Tour budgets, Euskatel-Euskadi was forced to let go of some of its headliners, like Samuel Sanchez or Mikel Landa. The orange formation has had a UCI ProTeam license since 2020 (cycling’s second division) and can only participate in top-level events when invited, which is not the case on the 2023 edition of the Tour. .
And even if the local fans cannot encourage their people at the start of the race, they are still present, all dressed in orange, on the side of the roads. So much so that the organizers would have asked the media and the cars to be attentive in anticipation of the density of public expected on the second stage which will lead, this Sunday evening, to San Sebastian.
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