ASO, organizer of the Tour de France, and the Basque Euskadi Basque Country-Murias Taldea team are starting to get to know each other. On Monday manager Jon Odriozola held a meeting with race director Christian Prudhomme, a "first contact" that the Basque team is confident will not be the last as they continue to take steps towards a future Tour de France participation.

Two weeks ago, the Basque Government announced its support of Murias Taldea and will now have a spot on the jersey and be part of the team name. Odriozola hopes that the deal will attract private companies that will allow the team to move up to pro continental level in 2017.

With the name of Euskadi as an important addition, Odriozola, accompanied by Francis Lefargue from thepublic relations team in France, made ​​an appointment and had the meeting at the headquarters of ASO in Paris. "It was an act of welcome and presentation of wills. The atmosphere was cordial, there was a nice wibe and attitude. It was mostly a first contact and we will  formalize things when we can," he told BiciCiclismo. "It was a matter of presenting a project which has been born with the idea of doing the Tour in a more or less distant future and bring back what the Basques to the Pyrenees like  Euskaltel-Euskadi did."

Odriozola was optimistic after the meeting. "Personally, I am very happy. These are important steps to achieve future goals. All these details and meetings are always important. We were well looked after. We were with Prudhomme and his team. It was mainly a meeting to explain the idea of ​​the project, involve them, and to share the need to again have the green tide in the Pyrenees, to return to the Tour and to open the doors for some races," he said. "Our presence in France is very important and it is important to consolidate the calendar and talk about specific races like Criterium International, Paris-Tours."

The Euskadi-Murias team will be Continental in 2016 and aims to make a first jump to the Professional Continental category in 2017. "Next year is an important transition year but above all we want to open up the future," he said. In this regard, he noted that Prudhomme was interested and asked for "the future of the team and the idea of ​​the project in terms of riders, both short and long term."