The Euskadi Foundation: the ‘Orange Tide’ is back!

2018 marks a new step forward in the project that for the past 25 years has been a source of pride for cycling fans in the Basque Country. We’re talking about the Euskadi Foundation, which begins a new era this year with the same goal and excitement as always, but with an even greater ambition: to return to the best cycling competitions in the world, with a squad made up entirely by riders trained by the Euskadi Foundation.

Mikel Landa, newly arrived to the Foundation presidency, has fueled the dream of soon returning to see the roadsides of the Tour and the Vuelta full of cycling fans identified by one color: orange. A color that for many years was associated with a particular territory, the Basque Country, and a way of experiencing cycling that is unique around the world.

The team’s goal is to grow to reach this objective, maintaining the philosophy with which it started out 25 years ago: the training of young promises in cycling and to promote the inexhaustible Basque reserve ranks.

In this way, after building its structure for three years in the amateur category, the first step towards this goal has been to take the step up to the Continental category, supported by an experienced technical team, led by Jorge Azanza as sports director, and placing their trust in young riders with a bright future ahead of them. The idea is “to create a team of cyclists for cyclists,” in the words of Mikel Landa.

This is a project open to participation by all people, companies and institutions who share with us the excitement for this dream, the enthusiasm of seeing our cyclists thrilling us in the world’s best races and the values of overcoming challenges, effort and sacrifice, inherent to the way in which we live cycling in the Basque Country. If you are one of those people and you want to be part of this dream, you can get more information about how to take part on the official Euskadi Foundation website.

Orbea:25 years supporting the Euskadi Foundation.

Orbea has been associated with the Euskadi Foundation project since its very beginning. From the very beginning, we have heard the calling of this utopia of building a cycling team with Basque athletes who compete on an equal footing with the great international teams. For two decades, we have grown from values and roots firmly anchored in our territory.

And we did it: the legendary Euskaltel Euskadi managed to conquer mythical peaks, such as Luz Ardiden and Alpe D’Huez in the best race of the world, the Tour de France, against the strongest teams in the peloton. The riders on that team earned the respect of world cycling and its fans; the “Orange Tide” was well-known for its enthusiasm and passion.

Over these 25 years, Orbea has experienced a very important growth that has enabled it to compete today in equal conditions with those who only surpassed us in size and in financial ability, but never in enthusiasm or passion.

Now, in this new stage that the Foundation is beginning, we want to express our guarantee that we support and will continue to support the Euskadi Cycling Foundation. We continue to be committed to that utopia that began in 1993, that we already made come true one time, and that we will make come true once again.

Together with Etxeondo, and thanks to the support of all the cycling fans in the Basque Country, and especially the members of the Foundation, our dream is for the Euskadi Foundation team to return to the elite levels of world cycling competition. We are tremendously excited by the possibility to once again hear how the “Orange Tide” roars in the best races in the world, with a squad that it recognizes as its own, made up entirely by cyclists trained by the Foundation.

We know it will not be easy, but we also know that we have and will have the support of many in order to bring this dream back to life: to bring Basque cycling back to the peaks where it should always be. Do you want to be part of this dream?

The Euskadi team makes its debut on January 25 in the Vuelta a Mallorca. You can follow the entire season of team Euskadi at orbea.com, on the team’s official website, and on its social networks: Facebook and Twitter.

The Orca OMR, which also brings back its orange color, will be the bicycle of the Euskadi team in 2018: a model designed specifically for competition and to convert each turn of the pedal into power. Its racing geometry encourages attacks by maximizing aerodynamics, light weight and reactivity. It is without a doubt the ideal bicycle for climbers and the mountain stages.