Facing the prestige, tradition and toughness of the Bidasoa Itzulia

65 years ago in the Bidasoa region, thanks to the impetus of a group of enthusiasts, a race was born (back then in August) that has become a reference point in the amateur calendar. A race that came to be known as the little Tour del Porvenir in its first period, which ended in 1966, and which returned to the calendar in 1982 to continue to consolidate itself as a breeding ground for future great professionals. In recent times, only the pandemic prevented the race from taking to the roads, and it did so on two occasions (2020 and 2021).

In 2023 the Bidasoa Itzulia returns with a proposal for three days that once again revolve around the river that gives it its name and inspires its existence, three stages with a broken profile with a slightly uphill finish on the first day (the iconic Plaza de Armas in the beautiful Hondarribia) before ascending the Jaizkibel, a much more demanding finish in the Baztan Valley, 3.6 kilometres at an average of over 9% after another two mountain passes and the increasingly characteristic final stage of short kilometres and five mountain passes, the last of which is Erlaitz.

Ramón Fernández, Álex García, Arnau Gilabert, Raúl López, Sebastiano Minoia, Andrea Montoli and Pablo Uria make up the ‘seven’ with which the U23 structure of the Contador Foundation will face a race in which it defends the bib 1 after Davide Piganzoli won the txapela, with Fernando Tercero also present on the podium. The precedent sets the ceiling very high, but the desire is always at its peak. Seventeen competing squads, ten of them from the Basque Country and Navarre, four from the rest of Spain, one French, one Belgian and one Italian team, will make up a high-level peloton.

The stages.
4 May: Irún-Hondarribia (130.4 km).

5th May: Hendaye – Bagordi (129.1 km).

6th May: Irún – Irún (74.3 km).

[? Unai Demi ]