News

Three Basque signings for Bizkaia Durango-Euskadi Murias

2017-11-09

Bizkaia Durango-Euskadi Murias UCI Women’s Team will add three more Basque riders to their 2018 roster: Ane Iriarte, Míriam Gardachal and Aroa Gorostiza, who join the previously announced Lierni Lekuona and Irati Idirin (both of them are from the Basque Country, too) and Yessica Pérez.

Ane Iriarte (Villabona-Amasa, Gipuzkoa, 1995) is a remarkable time triallist and track rider. She is the current Spanish U23 Time Trial champion, a title she achieved in June, in Soria. During 2017 she competed in several UCI races, such as Emakumeen Bira, GP Plumelec, La Classique Morbihan or Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta. She is also the current Spanish U23 champion in the Scratch race and she was 5th at the Scratch race European U23 Championship, in July.

I am very happy for joining Bizkaia Durango-Euskadi Murias in my first season as an elite rider, after a great last season as an U23. This year I will have the chance of improving my results in a solid structure like this, with a great calendar plenty of international races. I am looking forward to showing the level I can reach and returning the trust that has been placed in me. I hope to move a step forward in my progression and improve during the season — I will give it a 100 % in order to help the team in everything they need.”

Míriam Gardachal (Tafalla, Navarre, 1998) will face in 2018 her second season as an U23 rider. She was the Spanish Time Trial Junior champion in 2016 and competed at that year’s World Championships, in Doha. In 2017 she was selected several times by the Spanish national coach, so she raced Setmana Ciclista Valenciana, Emakumeen Bira, GP Plumelec, La Classique Morbihan and Madrid Challenge by La Vuelta.

I am glad I can race for a team like Bizkaia Durango-Euskadi Murias, which dominated the national calendar in the last seasons and has been a team in which great riders have grown and achieved a top level! In my second year as an U23 rider I’d like to be more agressive and help my teammates to reach all the goals we set. In a personal level, I’d also like to get more experience in international races, and that’s why I love to be racing for a team like Bizkaia Durango-Euskadi Murias, which has a really good international calendar. I believe we will be a great group and I’m confident we will do things well, but in order to achieve that we must work from the very first day, from the first race and from the first time we are together.”

Regarding Aroa Gorostiza (Elorrio, Biscay, 1999), she will make her debut in 2018 in the U23 category, after two seasons as a junior in which her progression has been positive. In July she classified 5th at the hardest race of the Spanish Cup, in Marín. She is also a great track rider who is the current Spanish Junior champion in the Individual Persecution race.

For a Basque — and from Biscay! — rider like me, it is really exciting to be joining a historic team such as Bizkaia Durango-Euskadi Murias, even more this season thanks to the support we are receiving from Euskadi Basque Country-Murias, the main Basque team. I am very thankful to the team for thinking in me and I hope I can be up to scratch. I will be a first year rider, so I know my main task should be working for my teammates, something you also need to grow as a cyclist. I hope to earn the chance of riding some international races, as I already did in my junior period with the CAF team, because where you really improve your level is there.”