THE CLIMB TO A HEAVENLY SANCTUARY
At the start of stage 5 in Bilbao, 31 riders were separated by less than three seconds. Juan Manuel Gárate, Cannondale-Drapac’s quietly spoken and diligent DS from Irun, on the border with France, couldn’t remember such a scenario at the race. He gave a wry smile. In the absence of a stratified provisional GC, the peculiarity of the edition had become the talking point of the race. Everyone knew that was about to change with the Itzulia’s visit to Basque cycling’s most venerated climb: the sanctuary at Arrate. The race tackled Eibar’s famous climb via two routes. The first ascent, done twice, is the classic route, known as Izua. The final pass is called Usartza and is a rough, narrow concrete track, which turned onto the same false flat road and short technical descent to the sanctuary.
“It’s a typical Basque climb,” said Garate of the 6.2km, seven per cent Izua ascent. “Personally, I can’t speak well of the climb because I never felt good on it. A 20km climb in the Giro was fine, but the Izua? Not for me,” he said, before adding that it’s a regular rendezvous during a Basque rider’s junior and amateur years.
Most of the climb threads through thick woods, which in early April are an electric green of new-season growth. The road is well surfaced and for, the most part, regular in its gradient to the modest altitude of 543m. From there, a 1.5km false flat gives way to a rapid, twisting 500m descent to the sanctuary. The views from the top are magnificent, with the corrugations of steep verdant hills fading to blue in the distance. The climb’s notoriety is due more to history than difficulty. That past is gleaned mostly from other, extinct races. It was part of the Subida a Arrate, a hill climb that attracted all the best Spanish riders to Eibar between 1941 and 1986. It was also the centrepiece of the Euskal Bizikleta. When that race was incorporated into the Itzulia on economic grounds in 2009, a covenant of the deal was that the pilgrimage to Arrate would be annual.
Yet better gears and fitter riders have tamed the Izua. It’s not as selective as it once was, hence the inclusion of the Usartza as the final climb. This 3.9km, 10.8 per cent average climb is a goat track in the truest sense, a rough concrete ribbon into the sky. It did the job it was meant to, testing the riders and bringing the best to the front for the pleasure of the fans.
If Basque cycling can be said to have a cradle, Eibar is it. The industrialised town was home to three firearms manufacturers - BH, Orbea and GAC - who all started making bikes in the 1920s and 30s. Clubs were set up, races blossomed and cycling grew to become more than just a curiosity of Basque Country life; it became a part of its identity.
“Eibar and its province Gipuzkoako has many riders, a lot of cycling schools and a lot of passion. There’ll be big crowds today,” predicted Gárate. He was right. The atmosphere fizzed on the final hairpin of the Izua, where a connecting road allowed the fans a chance to walk to the top of the Usartza and see Alejandro Valverde drag the best riders clear on the false flat before the tight, fast descent to Arrate, a finish he knows perfectly.