There are five minutes left for the ancient prayer of the Angelus. It is 11:55 in the morning when a blue whale on wheels slowly moves along the narrow road. A majestic vehicle in a cobalt tone with an intimidating image and soberly labeled with the Movistar symbol. The entire landscape pays tribute to contrasts. The immense picture of the bus where the eight cyclists will have breakfast and dinner every day -just them- from the telephone company, the close proximity of the Jundiz industrial estate, the old church that always gives identity to the towns and the hamlet that houses the Hotel El Coto, in Lermanda, so close to Vitoria that it could be said to be an appendage of the city.
The headquarters, in that hybrid of terminology that unites the military and sports worlds to which José María García granted a natural card. The ex-monarch of night radio with a recent documentary on the television platform, of course, of Movistar. The announcer with the high-pitched voice who ruled the Tour of Spain in his days through the iron fist of the information dictatorship and the ‘with me or against me’.
From the enormous marine animal supported by XXL tires descends Tato, the team’s masseuse and driver of that mobile home for everything. «I am Ignacio Bernardino, but call me Tato because nobody knows me by name». He chats with Laura Madinabeitia, manager of the hotel establishment. They treat each other with cordiality, trust and family closeness that correspond to an enviable cohabitation marriage.
“They have been coming here for eight years,” says the person in charge of El Coto. The Tour has the deference, well reciprocated by the public coffers, of giving the first pedal strokes this year in Euskadi and the zeal of the great organization is such that it sends personnel “every little” to verify that everything is going on tubulars and clear certain certain wonders.
“Very meticulous”
“The Tour is very meticulous,” explains Laura. «And it was difficult for him to understand that a team of the importance of Movistar asked to stay in a ‘two stars’. As it does not have an elevator – only two floors – it does not receive any further qualification. But the Navarrese group, like that in topographic slang when ‘El Butano’ fell out with Reynolds, wants no other hotel than Lermanda.
“They value discretion and the fact of not sharing it with other groups,” adds the administrator. «Enric Mas – leader of the telephone formation – can go down in flip-flops with the peace of mind that they will not ask for photos or autographs. And he can pick pears, lettuce and tomatoes from the garden behind ».
Madinabeitia acts as a hostess to show the guts and exteriors of a place that encourages introspection, calm and peace. Wooden beams, stone on the walls, warm atmosphere and pleasant surroundings. Rooms still bare of suitcases at noon that will progressively receive runners -various times depending on where they come from- with everything aligned to their tastes.
“Envy” of restaurants
Tato, a nice guy, has arrived with the canine whale’s diesel tank and returns around one o’clock to leave the blue monster in a limited area of the car park. The cyclists have dinner tonight in the hotel dining room but from tomorrow they will eat in the motorized bunker. El Coto provides them with raw food and they prepare it in the ‘roulotte’. The back half, “a kitchen that many restaurants tell us they wish they had already.” The front, the room of confidences where the protagonists are nourished.
– You have Mas as a leader.
– (Tato looks at the ground with the grimace of those who have an illusion inside) Yes, we have Enric, who is doing well.
2023-06-28 18:43:46
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