This article was produced in collaboration with Basque Tour
Multiple Giro d’Italia and Grande Boucle winner Joane Somarriba still remembers with emotion what the Grand Départ of the Tour de France from Euskadi meant in July 2023. “It was a party for everyone,” she says.
In Bilbao, the start and finish city of the first stage, 364,000 people gathered, according to official data from the Basque Government. “It was so cool. I do have a very nice memory of those days, of what all the lovers of this sport experienced, and also those who are not, because everyone came to the road to cheer and applaud. People could not imagine that there would be such a crowd and such a formidable atmosphere by the roadside,” says Somaribba.
The unprecedented popular success of the Tour’s Grand Départ in 2023 showed that in Euskadi, cycling is much more than a sport – it is a culture that has been embedded in the DNA of Basque cycling society for decades. Another amazing figure: in those three stages, almost a million people took to the streets and roads to watch the Tour go by.
Almost two years later, Somarriba – one of the best Spanish cyclists ever, a world champion time triallist with multiple major stage race victories – and Joseba Beloki – one of the great figures of Spanish cycling, three times a podium finished in the Tour de France between 2000 and 2002 – have returned to ride the second stage of that Grand Départ, still with fresh memories of those historic days.
At the team presentation in Bilbao, Somarriba was honoured, along with Basque riders who had previously won Tour stages. Meanwhile Beloki, along with fellow former pros Pedro Horillo and Haimar Zubeldia, helped design the stages. Both Beloki and Somarriba know the territory well, almost by heart, thanks to countless hours of training and racing in the region, added to the connection they have with their own land. Beloki himself missed the Grand Départ, in order to attend the junior cycling nationals with his son Markel, who is now riding in the WorldTour with EF Education-EasyPost, but he still feels a strong connection to the event.
“The images that we saw, of the roadsides packed with people, of the respect they paid the cyclists, of the txapelas [local hats] were very Basque – they represent our essence, our DNA,” he says. “I think the DNA of Basque cycling goes hand in hand with what the fans are like.”
2023 was not the first time that Somarriba experienced the men’s Tour de France up close. In 1992, the race started in San Sebastian with a time trial won by Miguel Indurain. Then in 2001, the second of Somarriba’s three victories in the event, the Grande Boucle Féminine had two stages in Basque territory.
“I remember the people turned out with great enthusiasm, and that made it a race which was very different to what we were used to in terms of crowds and the public. I think all the girls enjoyed it very much, and I have a very good memory of it. Would I like the Tour de France Femmes to visit Euskadi again? Of course, I would love it!”
Beloki agrees. “I think we are more than ready to host another Grand Départ,” he says. “There is a word in Basque, nortasuna, which means ‘our character, and I think that was well captured in what we saw on television in 2023.”
Nortasuna can be felt on our riding route, which is a deep immersion in the identity, culture and gastronomy of Euskadi. Beloki says of the day’s ride that it is “very diverse, and the colours are changing constantly”. It covers 208.9 kilometres starting in the heart of the province of Álava, goes through the deep and hilly interior of Gipuzkoa and ends along the cliffs to the sea in the majestic city of San Sebastian and the Bay of Biscay.
Vitoria, green city
The route starts in Vitoria-Gasteiz, which is much more than an administrative capital. Declared European Green Capital in 2012, the city perfectly combines history and modernity. Its cobbled streets and medieval quarter form one of the most emblematic historic city centres in the Basque Country, and remind us that time is measured differently here. For Somarriba, starting here is significant: “Vitoria is a benchmark for sustainable mobility. It is a wonderful city that is deeply connected to cycling.”
Beloki, who grew up in Vitoria-Gasteiz, can't help but recall the process involved in designing both this and the other Tour stages. It has a personal meaning for him. “For us it was a source of pride, with a very romantic side, a very cool thing, which Pedro, Haimar and I experienced. We were very lucky to be involved in that working group,” he says. “But in a certain way, as time went by, it seemed to us that we couldn’t satisfy everyone…”
He still has a little frustration that the route could not include other cities with a great cycling tradition, such as Eibar or many others. “There were so many things to explain,” he says.
Although he has a bittersweet feeling, there is something contagious in the way Beloki explains all this. As we are riding, he could call attention to the details and facts of each road, village or valley, as if designing a parcours were like writing a story with its own narrative. It encourages riders to explore more. This connects with the ‘iceberg theory’ of writer Ernest Hemingway, who had a very close relationship with Euskadi in the 1920s and 1930s. According to the American writer, in a story only a small part of it is explicitly written (the tip of the iceberg), while most of the meaning and emotion is implicit, hidden beneath the surface, and must be intuited by the reader. The same happens with a cycling route: as a cyclist pedals along the road, they are like the reader who senses that there is much more to tell and discover beneath the surface of things. The road is only the tip of the iceberg.
After Vitoria, the route heads to Aramaio, bordering the Ullibarri-Gamboa and Urrunaga reservoirs, at the northern end of which is Otxandio, a town surrounded by impressive forests with a wide range of sports and mountain biking opportunities. However, the route turns off a little earlier at the Albina reservoir. With a relatively flat profile, these first 50 kilometres offer a natural environment full of mountains and meadows. It is a very peaceful area with a lot of cycling traffic, much appreciated too by gravel and MTB riders.
From there, the terrain plunges into the valley of Arrasate. “This is a very important area to understand industrialisation in the Basque Country, because you pass by the Mondragon Corporation and get an impression of its economic strength. The fact that this route and the Tour passes through here is very important to explain our contemporary history,” says Beloki. The valley itself connects with Oñati and the valley that bears its name, where it is worth discovering the importance that this town had in the current constitution of Euskadi and as a cultural nucleus. It is considered the most monumental town of Gipuzkoa, and the Sancti Spiritus University is one of its architectural jewels.
The mysterious Goierri
From Oñati, the road enters territory that feels like the Itzulia Basque Country race, with continuous up and down that, on the one hand, connects us with the essence of Basque cycling – with gritty, tough and punchy riders – and, on the other, immerses us in challenging and beautiful terrain, full of small valleys, turns and winding roads that are made to make riding a bike a pleasure. After crossing the Alto de Udala and the Aztiria, the road descends towards Zerain, one of the first villages of the Goierri region which is also known as the Basque Highlands. This is a region made up of 18 villages, most of them with fewer than 1,000 inhabitants, in a landscape with natural charm, between the Aralar and Aizkorri-Aratz Natural Parks. The feeling that there is so much to discover is especially intense here, while passing villages like Segura, Idiazabal, Ordizia, where the rural and gastronomic environments come together. “Goierri is where we find products such as Idiazabal cheese and Beasain black pudding,” says Beloki.
Once the first 100 kilometres are completed, and overcoming another steep slope before reaching Amezketa, the route begins to head towards the north, searching for the sea through Tolosa, Anoeta and Andoain. There’s a mandatory feed stop in Villabona, just before reaching Andoain, where you will find the Hika Txakolindegia bodega, managed by Roberto Ruiz. This is a natural place of pilgrimage for cyclists, with gastronomic societies, cider houses and bars where you can taste local specialties. “To get there you have to climb a considerable hill, where a stage of Itzulia finished two years ago,” remembers Somarriba. “But the reward is a terrace with awesome food, with pintxos, anchovies, croquettes… and great views of the vineyards. It's an impressive place.”
Cycling through the Basque Country is a transformative experience. Not only for its landscapes and passes, but also for the human and cultural connection it offers. In this sense, Beloki points out that one of the best things about riding through Euskadi is the social aspect. “For us, that gastronomic part, beyond the architecture and the museums, is very important. There are people that when they meet, they may do other things, but if you meet a Basque, you're always going to meet in a bar or a restaurant. That is mandatory,” he says, and Somarriba agrees, laughing.
We continue in a northerly direction, with the sea now a little more than 50 kilometres away. Hernani, at the foot of Mount Santa Barbara and surrounded by several hills, is home to the Chillida-Leku Museum, promoted by the sculptor Eduardo Chillida. Here, one has the feeling of having travelled a whole world since the route left Vitoria-Gasteiz more than 150 kilometres ago. “The landscape is constantly changing and even the Basque language changes along the route,” Beloki says. “It is so pluralistic. Wehave a super-extensive catalogue of environments and cultures in a not so big territory.”
Jaizkibel, overlooking the sea
After the explosive fourth-category climb of Gurutze, we face the descent to Irún and Hondarribia, right on the border with the French Basque Country, with our minds set on the biggest topological challenge of the day: the ascent to Jaizkibel, one of the highlights of the journey. The regular scene of battles in the Clásica de San Sebastián, this pass of eight kilometres at 5.3 per cent, overlooking the sea, combines beauty, toughness and an epic dimension. Back in July 2023 Tadej Pogačar took the mountains prize and won the bonuses ahead of Jonas Vingegaard with the road full of people. The local newspaper El Diario Vasco began its chronicle with the headline Madness in Jaizkibel. “Thousands of fans crowded the roads, generating a spectacular atmosphere. They even applauded the passing of the helicopter,” they wrote. Sprinter Mark Cavendish suffered on that climb but had generous words for the experience: “It has been incredible. Never in my career had I raced in the Basque Country. They are the most incredible fans in the world.”
Now there is not the hustle and bustle of the fans, only the sound of the breeze and that allows the cyclist to see all that the Jaizkibel has to offer. Despite the climb’s connection to racing, Somarriba highlights the potential it has for the common cyclist, who can stop at the top and enjoy the scenery: “From the top of Jaizkibel you can see all those impressive cliffs. You can see Hondarribia and those fishing villages. It's a landscape in which even the air you breathe envelops you, with that profound smell of salt.”
Somarriba suggests the climb is an example of the breadth of vision that cyclotourism means, even for a former professional cyclist like her: “For me, cyclotourism has allowed me to rediscover my own region and get to know different places. When you were training, of course you stopped in a cafe or bar, but they were short breaks. But now you can enjoy the landscapes, discover places and, in addition, get to know the gastronomy and specialities of each place. When we were racing we couldn’t enjoy ourselves in this way.”
Beloki agrees: “When you are a professional, you have two speeds: training and competition. But cyclotourism allows you to do something else, even to develop another way of seeing, because the cyclist is curious in him or herself.”
From the Jaizkibel summit, the final 15 kilometres, vía Lezo, are mostly downhill to San Sebastian, the jewel of the Cantabrian Sea, the most historic tourist destination in Euskadi. In the Tour it was where Pello Bilbao, a native of Gernika, tried to go solo for the victory but was neutralised by the Jumbo-Visma team. For the cyclotourist, it is simply a matter of enjoying and letting him or herself be caught up in the sensations that once made the European aristocracy choose San Sebastian as a Belle Époque summer resort. San Sebastian is dominated by the surrounding mountains and the bay of La Concha, around which the city is built. It is a must for any traveller to stop to stare at the sea and watch how the tide slowly moves.
Hemingway finished his book The Sun Also Rises in 1926 in San Sebastian, and there he used to meet with friends to enjoy the surroundings and a good meal and wine. In the book, he writes: “Even on a hot day, San Sebastian has a certain early-morning quality. The trees seem as though their leaves were never quite dry. The streets feel as though they had just been sprinkled. It is always cool and shady on certain streets on the hottest day.”
San Sebastian, the end of this 208.9-kilometre route, acts as contrast and balance in a journey which has the spirit of a novel, in which many stories are told and many others not told, but always giving us explicit or implicit understanding of Basque cycling culture and its nortasuna, its personality. Perhaps Somarriba sums it up best: “It is a land of strength, of character, of contrasts. It is a land of wild beauty.”
