If that damn injury he suffered at the Bernabéu, in December 2015, hadn't forced him to say goodbye to professional football so soon, the arms of Imanol
Agirretxe (Usurbil, 1987) would continue to be deployed towards the sky of Anoeta, celebrating one more goal to add to that account that stopped at 75 goals in 272 official matches. In August 2018, the usurper forward announced that he would no longer fly, that his fight against returning to the pitch was over. Then another stage of his life opened for the Punta Gipuzkoa in which he has discovered other passions and other sports in which, in some way, he also flies close to heaven.
And it is that this past weekend must have felt like a Agirretxe that, emulating the Mikel
Landa, Pogacar, Primoz
Roglic or Egan
Bernal, has rolled through some of the most mythical peaks of the Pyrenees, following the trail of the peloton in the Tour de France. The perfect plan for many fans of the sport of two wheels in the Basque Country.
Since he hung up his boots, the usurbilder has become a great fan of cycling, a sport that professional footballers are banned while they are active. It is not difficult to see him rolling through different terrains of our orography every week, which allows Agirretxe remain the same as two years ago, when he retired from football at 31.
Pyrenean double stage
Taking advantage of the passage this past weekend through the ports closest to our territory, Agirretxe he became one of those hundreds of “globeros” that flood the French roads when the “Grande Boucle” crosses the Pyrenees. Perfectly equipped for the occasion and with a Giant Propel 'machine', similar to the one used by professional cyclists at Kern Pharma, for example, the extxuri urdin fulfilled the dream of every self-respecting bicycle enthusiast, to reach the top of the Tourmalet .
Agirretxe He formed a group with his brother-in-law and a friend from the gang. The plan included two days with four ports, two of them included in the official tour of the Tour, one of First and another of special category. And it is that before crowning the Tourmalet, Agirretxe and his companions passed through the Port de Báles and Peyresourde hours before he did Nans
Peters looking for stage victory on Saturday. The first, of 11.7 kilometers with an average slope of 7.7%, and the second, of almost 10 kilometers (9.7) with a slope of 7.8%. After seeing win Peters and how Pogacar gave his first recital by cutting 40 seconds to his direct rivals escaping alone, Agirretxe On Sunday he undertook a second day with the aforementioned Tourmalet (19 kilometers at 7.4%) and the Col du Tentes (10.6 kilometers at 7.82%). The ex-footballer has returned in awe of this latest ascent, which is undertaken from Gavarnie, for the beautiful landscape that can be enjoyed on it.
The final toughness of Tourmalet
Although he already has many kilometers on his legs and he may even weigh a few kilograms less than when he was active, Agirretxe has been able to verify the toughness, especially in the last kilometers, of what will surely be the most famous port in the history of the Tour de France and the one that has been promoted the most, the Tourmalet. After being the final stage last year – he won Thibaut
Pinot– In this 2020 it has not been included in the organization's road book so the squad has been able to avoid it. Not like this Imanol
Agirretxe that, since this past weekend, can already boast of having crowned a summit that in its day crossed in the first place myths such as Splendor
Coppi, Eddy
Mercks, Frederick
Martin
Bahamontes or Claudio
Chiapucchi.