Basque cycling loses one of the two iconic brothers with Gorka Izagirre's departure

Fair is fair: younger brother Ion was always in the spotlight more. With two stage wins in the Tour de France, one in the Giro d'Italia and one in the Vuelta an España, he can join the elite club of riders who have completed the notorious "hat trick." Gorka didn't manage to do that, but still, one can speak of a great career. Strangely enough, it did not begin in the Basque Country but in Switzerland. As a 20-year-old rookie, he joined the pro-continental NGC Medical - OTC Industria Porte.

His time in Switzerland was unsuccessful: after a year, he left for the Spanish Contentpolis-Ampo, a team at the same level. However, apart from one Ukrainian, the formation consisted exclusively of Spaniards. With this team, Izagirre was occasionally given a taste of the big work, especially in his own country, but the results were not significant even here. Nevertheless, the youngster negotiated a transfer to Euskaltel-Euskadi. With that, the puzzle pieces seemed to fall together. A Basque at a Basque team and in the WorldTour appeared to boost the young Izagirre.

His new formation had scouted excellently, as in 2010, the 22-year-old man from Ormaiztegi won his first professional races. First, he was the best in the final stage of the Tour of Luxembourg. Then he won the "home race" Prueba Villafrana-Ordiziako Klasika: the finish of this one-day race is about five kilometers from Izagirre's hometown. It was the beginning of a beautiful love story between rider and race: in the future, he won the Basque race twice more.

After four years with Euskaltel-Euskadi, Izagirre was forced to leave the team: the formation disappeared from the peloton. He found a place with Movistar and thus continued to cycle around in Spanish surroundings. Ion was also there: the brothers would cycle together from 2011 to 2016 with the two Spanish teams. Gorka showed himself, especially in the hills and high mountains. He was also a real downhill specialist and often distinguished himself with his appetite for attack: the Garratza, freely translated from the Basque language as acid or poison, radiated from Izagirre, although at times, he also had to be a domestique for riders such as Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana. During his final year with the Spanish team, he recorded his most significant victory: in 2017, he won the tricky eighth stage of the Giro.

He clearly did not like the year without Ion because, in 2018, they met again at Bahrain Merida. Here, the older Izagirre became the Spanish champion. But when his brother left for Astana the following year, Gorka joined him again. In those years, he showed himself with another top finish in the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, but he also emerged in the classics. In 2020, he won the Gran Trittico Lombardo. In 2022, the brothers separated again: Ion rode for Cofidis, and Gorka returned to Movistar. But being apart did not do him any good, and last year, he joined the French formation.

As a result, Gorka Izagirre was a fine rider with nice wins, beautiful results on the podium, and an excellent racing style. But in the end, like his brother, he will be remembered as "one of those Izagirres." And he probably won't mind that at all. After all, he spent eleven of his seventeen professional racing years riding on the same team as his younger brother. Together, they were a model of Basque fighting spirit, like a shadow of the past. Euskaltel-Euskadi disappeared from cycling, and the old Basque heroes had also been gone for a while. But the Izagirres always made the ecstatic Basque fans enjoy themselves the old-fashioned way. Euskaltel has since returned, and brother Ion will continue for a while. However, with Gorka's retirement, a piece of the Basque Garratza is disappearing.