If someone could choose where to be born, if by doing so they were already clear that they would be a cyclist, without a doubt they would say that Gernika. And if, being a runner, one day he found out that the authorities of the Basque Country They had decided that they were betting on hosting the Grand Depart of the Tour then I would cross my fingers, I would pray if I were a believer -of course to the Virgin of begona that he even has a street in Bilbao converted into a republic to his work and grace- or he would say to himself: “that the Tour passes through my ‘office’& rdquor;. Because the ‘office’ is the cyclist’s workplace and that office for a runner is the road.
The name of Gernika For foreigners, it has always been associated with the sad memory of what never had to happen, of what should not be forgotten so that it does not happen again, especially in these strange times in which some seem to want to return to the past. Nazi and fascist planes bombed and destroyed the city in 1937. Everything was ruined except for a tree that remained standing and that has vindicated Basque traditions for centuries. a box of Pablo Picassocommissioned by the Government of the Republic, became a work of art and one of the world symbols in favor of peace.
The city of Pello Bilbao
Gernika is now a happy city. But also nervous, with the neighbors as agitated as children who can barely sleep on Twelfth Night waiting for gifts. Because the Tour will pass through its main road this Saturday and because it will also do so through the ‘office’ of bilbao hair.
It is worth a visit to the surroundings of the Biscayan city to affirm that, Coatalthough he is going fast and with his head down controlling the handlebars of his bike, he will get goosebumps this Saturday. Coat He is the Gernika cyclist and in Gernika being the city cyclist is like being the town’s athlete, the greatest, a symbol almost like his tree and a mirror in which all the children who dream of being a runner like him want to reflect. and above all with having the tremendous luck, not only to compete in the Tour, but to do so on the roads that mark his ‘office’.
the mural
To the Biscayan photographer Iraia Calvowith his camera loaded with hundreds of photos of cyclists, asked him if he could lend them one of Bilbao with his work uniform, the ‘jersey’ of Bahrain. With that image, the members of his supporters club -there is no runner in Euskadi that does not have its own animation squad- have painted a mural that they would like Tadej Pogacar in Slovenia or Jonas Vingegaard in Copenhagen. But it is that Gernika will be covered with banners in Basque cheering on her boy, with the neighbours, including the parents, dressed in T-shirts with the name of Pello.
Far from Gernika it is not known that when he won two stages of the Giro in 2019, one of them sprinting, Michael LandaNow his partner, his friends waited for him and threw an impressive party for him. The following year, in a truce from the pandemic, the tribute was already different after finishing the Italian round in fifth position, because the city council was in charge of the tribute and everything was more official and less intimate.
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For this reason, because Gernika will be a party, because Gernika will be bilbao hair, because he is the best option among the 14 Spanish riders who are competing in the French round to win a stage, because he is fast in finishing… You can only end this first Tourmalet of the 2023 Tour by saying that prepare the Van der Poel, Van Aert, alaphilippe And till pogacar at the finish line in the Biscayan capital because there is only one Bilbao and after passing the test in Gernika his legs will be loaded with strength, faith and speed.
PS: since 2018 no rider born south of the Pyrenees has won a stage on the Tour. The last one was another from Biscay, omar friar, who is also running the test this year. Since then, no Spaniard has been on the podium of the race and it has rained, there has been a drought, elections and what is worse, a pandemic and a war in Ukraine.