There was something missing from the 2014 Tour de France: the many Basque fans who flocked to the mountains to support their stars at Euskaltel-Euskadi. But the Basque fans may get to return to races to support the new Basque Continental team, Murias Taldea.

Murias Taldea has been described as “the saviour” of Basque cycling by team manager Jon Odriozola. Even though the team wont be at the Tour de France anytime soon, it has given hope to the Basque people, and their region, which hosts two WorldTour races, the Tour of the Basque Country and Clasica San Sebastian.

“Basque cycling needed a new team to excite the people,” Odriozola told AS. “Murias is the saviour. It’s a solid project and open to anyone who wants to come to support it, it is for everyone.”

“The motto unveiled yesterday is ‘illusion and hope’. After Movistar, there are few structures in this country for riders.”

The team aims to promote young riders and will be lead by ex Cofidis man Egoitz Garcia who is one of the senior figures aged 28.

The team wants to be invited to ride in both Spain and France, which they have to apply for, as they are a third division team.

“I hope that now people identify with the green as before they had identified with the color orange,” Odriozola said. 

“We are closing in on a pretty nice calendar and from there you can get going and work with good racing. We have some interesting races in France and a good team that requires patience and a bit of work, but we will achieve beautiful goals.”