“When I went out on the road with my bike, they told me to go and scrub myself,” recalls the best Spanish cyclist in history, who is pleased that women now have decent means and salaries
He answers the journalist’s phone call one afternoon when he is painting a wall in his house in Gatika (Vizcaya). We housewives have to do everything, she says. Joane Somarriba (50 years old), the best Spanish cyclist of all time, winner of three Tour de France (2000, 2001 and 2003), two Giros (1999 and 2000) and a World Time Trial (2003). She retired in 2005 after winning a silver medal in the World Time Trial held in Madrid, she has been far from the media spotlight. The anonymous life of a champion in a small town.
The Basque was a pioneer in a hostile time for cyclists. The beginning was very hard, there was nothing. When I went out with the bike they passed me and turned their heads. ‘But you’ve seen well, she’s a girl!’, Decan. I was going down the road and they were shouting: ‘Go home and wash up, what are you doing here?’. Those comments have been suffered by all cyclists of my generation. When I said that I wanted to participate in the Tour or the Giro, they were surprised. My beginnings were complicated, at the age of 17 or 18 I trained and did not see results. I was making an effort and it made me want to send everything to hell. The family helped me a lot.
Joane Somarriba is a pioneer who takes credit for herself and prefers to go unnoticed. She withdrew me and focused on the family. Soon my first child was born Markeland then they arrived footprint y Verizona, the three very close. I cut myself off from everything. I’m fine being an ordinary person. I’m very shy and I don’t want anyone to know about me. When I go around and they recognize me, I say: ‘Oh, Holy God’.
More than 20 years ago, Joane monopolized podiums in a wasteland. So everything was different. It enriches me a lot to see how the situation of girls has changed. Now they have media, careers and teams. It’s tremendous. They no longer have the need to leave their country. I had to go to Italy. Now they have everything here and they can compete with all the dignity in the world, which is the important thing. I am glad that they run equally, with almost the same infrastructure as the men’s teams, and that they have decent salaries.
- Surely you feel healthy envy, because now they have their needs covered.
- Envy for salaries, for the media. It is a luxury that they can run in the best races in the world, that they have all the facilities so that they can give their all in sporting terms. We had to beg, almost dragging ourselves to run. At first, we were six or seven runners and we only had one masseuse, and if you brought a masseuse you couldn’t have a mechanic. There was a big gap with the men. You went to Italy and half of what they promised you were going to pay you. You didn’t have a guarantee, that’s why I say begging. They won the Giro and the Tour and I didn’t see a penny. The teams spent what they had and then they didn’t pay you. Things have changed for the better and I am proud that they have.
- So I barely made any money.
- In Italian. Crazy people played there. The human treatment was good, I grew a lot as a runner, I was a partner of Fabiana Luperini, but it was not positive economically. Then I decided to end my sporting life at home and things went better for me.
Spanish women’s cycling is going through a flourishing period. Movistar occupies stellar positions in the international ranking. the dutch Annemiek van Vleuten is the star His contract with the telephone team ends this year and he receives around 250,000 euros per year. The minimum salary of the runners who are active in the squadElefnica could be around 32,000 euros per year. As of next year, all Spanish cyclists will have a minimum wage and will contribute to Social Security. Companies that invest in women’s sports will have tax benefits for the Universo Mujer program.
Joane Somarriba now enjoys watching Van Vleuten on television, Blue Garca o Sheyla Gutirrez, but he sees everything from a distance: I lead a very different life from the one I had as a cyclist. I was good at what I did and I enjoyed it a lot. All the experiences I have taught me to improve myself and grow as athletes and as a person. Elite sport increased my constant desire to excel. youHearing that has helped me cope with Crohn’s disease, which affected me from the third pregnancy on and from time to time it causes me a strong intestinal inflammation. It is a congenital disease, my father also suffered from it.
This disease, continues the former Biscayan cyclist, conditions me, but I have not taken this circumstance as something negative. In the end, you have to push forward and you realize that there are many people who are worse off. This disease has touched me and has taught me to live from day to day. You know you are vulnerable. It is a disease that does not warn you, you are fine and suddenly it reappears. They are outbreaks and for some of them I have been admitted to a hospital for two months. Now I’m on immunosuppressive treatment, I’m fine. All this makes you move away from social life a bit. Yes, I loved, because of my way of being, it was already difficult for me to relate and I already came with that serial defect, well with this disease much more. Now you close in on yourself… I’m from the north, very closed.
Somarriba, who was named Best Spanish Athlete in 2003, flees from notoriety. She has received a few offers to commentate on races, but has turned them down. She barely gives interviews. The last major public contribution of hers was in 2005 with the publication of her book Joane Somarriba. Sacrifice and glory of the best Spanish cyclist, pioneer in a world of men (The Sphere of Books), written in collaboration with the journalist Jon Rivas. Born in Gernika, she lives in Gatika, a town of just over 1,600 inhabitants in Vizcaya, a couple of kilometers from Mungia. She is fully dedicated to her family. she married Ramontxu Gonzlez Arrietaformer cyclist, good climber, partner of Miguel Indurain at Banesto and former Spanish women’s cycling coach. In the garage of his house there are a dozen bicycles. Her three children practice cycling. The eldest, Markel (16 years old), competes and reports good conditions. Markel loves to climb climbs, the harder the better. He is a birdie, now he has also taken up cyclocross. We don’t demand anything from any of the three in cycling, we don’t want them to be overwhelmed with the weight of their last names. The important thing is that they enjoy themselves and that they study. I accompany them to the races and I get nervous because I see dangers everywhere. The same thing happens to me as to my mother when I run, says Joane.
Cycling has been my life, I still ride my bike, but I only do it to enjoy myself. If it rains or is cold I stay at home. If I were to be born again, I would do the same thing that I have always done. Since she was a child, she wanted to run the Tour de France, something that seemed impossible at the time. I started on it and I got it. I was fortunate that my family always encouraged me. My father was a sailor, when he stopped sailing he opened a restaurant with my mother. He loved cycling, he would take my sisters and me to bike shops and say: ‘What bike do you want?’.
The best Spanish runner of all time, in addition to her successes in the Tour and the Giro, she participated in three Olympic Games (Atlanta, Sydney and Athens). She does not feel longing for the past. She is happy with her family in Gatika: I stopped running after the World Cup in Madrid and stayed at home. I have dedicated myself to taking care of my children and that has been a great luck. It is the best thing that has happened to me, much better than winning medals. Although, it is true, they are giving more and more war. Taking care of children is like winning a Tour, you have to have a lot of perseverance and be patient, because children do not come with a manual under their arms. Well, I dedicate myself to all that now. I am very simple. Pioneer champion word.
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