Basque cycling team Euskaltel-Euskadi has been on a roll lately (no pun intended) winning the last two major stages races with wins at both the Tour Suissie and the Dauphiné Libéré. Both races offer tour riders an excellent primer before the sports biggest race, the Tour de France in July each year.
In late June, 28 year old Landaluze looked impressive and strong as he fended off attacks by several pro cycling teams including Phonak and Gerolsteiner to keep his overall race lead and win the Dauphine. Just weeks later the orange squad looked in excellent form once again as González snatched the yellow jersey on the last stage of the race (also an incredibly tough mountain top finish stage).
During the 2003 Tour de France Euskaltel was all smiles with an excellent performance by Iban Mayo as the young rider placed sixth overall and won a L’Alpe-d’Huez to boot. This year Mayo will lead the Basque team again and try to secure a podium finish for the Euskaltel.
This year the team has their eyes set on the tdf, with a slower build-up to the tour in hopes that Mayo will reach peak performance several days into the race (as the peloton reaches the mountains). Mayo old the Spanish media “We’ve sacrificed a lot of things and there have been times where I’ve had to restrain myself, because we all like to win! I went more unnoticed, but that was the risk we took - what is important is to get to the Tour in good shape. Last year I was very strong at the start and then my form just went down…”
Only time will tell just how ready Mayo and the boys are from Euskaltel, regardless I am sure the Basque team will have their moments in this years tour.
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