Pedalling towards victory

Igor Anton, winner of an unforgettable stage of the Vuelta that finished in Bilbao, receives, after his recent retirement at the end of 2018 a tribute from Athletic Club for his cycling career and will receive a commemorative gift in the run-up of the match against SD Eibar. In addition, Fuji, the nickname with which Igor Anton is known, features a promotional video of the derby accompanied by the lions Dani García and Mikel Balenziaga. The images recall his magnificent triumph in Bilbao and incorporates San Mames as the goal for this Saturday at 08:45p.m., when the derby starts. Igor Anton’s brilliant record includes, as well as his four victories in the Vuelta a España of which he was leader for several days, includes his prestigious triumph in the Zoncolan in the Giro d’Italia.

Likewise, if there is one man among the Euskaltel-Euskadi exciclists whose name will be linked to the city of Bilbao forever, it is undoubtedly that of Igor Anton. In 2011, he won the 19th stage of the Vuelta a España that finished near San Mames, on the Gran Vía after 33 years without the Vuelta passing through the capital of Biscay. The key of his triumph was the second climb to the Vivero, the peak he has most times climbed in his life and that he knew by heart for his countless training sessions on its slopes. The Galdakao cyclist, pedalling to the maximum, climbed on the peak and course towards Begoña. Afterwards, he only had to cross the bridge of La Salve and get to the Gran Via, where a big crowd moved him into the finish.

For two decades, from 1994 until practically its disappearance at the end of 2013, the Euskaltel-Euskadi brought the singular red-and-white philosophy to the cycling world and competed at the highest UCI category only with cyclists born or trained in the Basque Country. From its origins, the orange team grew season after season and provoked a sense of belonging in the community that transcended sports and generated enormous sympathy and pride. This identification and connection between followers of Athletic Club and Euskaltel-Euskadi could also be perceived. This connection was natural and even logical, since football and cycling, together with pelota, had always been the most deeply rooted sports in Euskal Herria.

Beginning with the alma mater of a unique project, Miguel Madariaga, there have been numerous names related to Euskatel-Euskadi that throughout its twenty years of life have given us days of glory. Igor Antón, together with the brothers Izagirre, Mikel Landa and Mikel Nieve, among others, formed part of that last squad that disappeared at the end of 2013, being one of the longest teams in the peloton and closing one of the most celebrated periods of Basque cycling. Perhaps one of the first golden pages of this memorable book called Euskaltel-Euskadi was written when another athleticzale of heart, Roberto Laiseka, won the first stage of a big lap in 1999 in the Alto de Abantos and, when, two years later, he crowned Luz Ardiden’s peak alone, in the first participation of the Euskaltel-Euskadi in the Tour de France. Later on, they would also win a stage in the Tour Iban Mayo and Samuel Sánchez, who also conquered the mountain jersey.