Miguel Indurain, Peio Ruiz Cabestany and Julián Gorospe will no longer be able to taste the eclairs prepared by Juantxu Larrucea. The Amorebieta chef, passionate about cycling … and in charge of feeding the cyclists of the Spanish team when they went to the World Cups, died suddenly this Thursday at the age of 81. Appreciated wherever he was, he leaves behind numerous friends.
There are those who called him the Arguiñano of cyclists. A native of Amorebieta, where he ran the Juantxu restaurant until his retirement, he also dedicated himself to hospitality in Durango and even worked as a cook on fishing boats during periods of work. Self-made, his attachment to cycling comes from a young age. A faithful follower of Julián Gorospe, he enjoyed his triumphs, such as the one in the sprint against Sean Kelly in Ibardin in Itzulia in 1984 or the one that at the same height gave him the absolute victory in the Basque round six years later, in 1990.
In charge of the team’s kitchen when it went to the long-distance World Cups on the road, he established a close relationship with Miguel Indurain, who from time to time skipped his diet to taste Juantxu’s desserts. With his admired runners he enjoyed the odd medal, such as Abraham Olano’s gold in Colombia, and suffered when the results did not suit them, such as in Utsonomiya in 1990, where he had to deal with the Japanese.
He prepared beans both for the members of the old Reynolds and later for those of Euskaltel. He also maintained a cordial relationship with EL DIARIO VASCO, whose journalists he guided in the car he drove in the Tour of the Basque Country. They learned cycling with him.
The funeral will take place in the church of Nuestra Señora del Carmen, in the Larrea neighborhood, in Amorebieta, this Saturday at six in the afternoon.
