For some he will be a complete unknown, but many others will quickly recognize him as the number one youtuber and cycling influencer in Spain. We talk about Ibon Zugasti (Basque Country, 49 years old), a graphic designer who took a radical turn in his life to dedicate himself body and soul to his great passion: cycling. The one from Lezo, after combining his profession with two wheels for years, He left everything to dedicate himself to cycling with more than 30 springs. “I never considered being a professional, but I reached a point where I realized that I liked the bike more than work, after spending ten or twelve years combining them and sleeping four or five hours a day. At the age of 32, I told my boss that I wanted to be a cyclist. and I took two sabbatical years. In my house nobody understood anything, it was a drama. I went from being a yuppie to a bastard. my life changed and I started to be happy as a cyclist”, Ibon explains to AS about his first experiences in this sport.
His beginnings on the road were tough, but he ended up leading the national amateur ranking. “When I started on the road they gave me 30 euros per race, so I did as many as I could. Also to learn, because I I didn’t even know how to ride a wheel. I let go of the peloton and going last I was ten meters from the group”, tells a Zugasti who, despite the bad experiences, had the opportunity to shoot alongside great stars: “In 2005 I was already champion of Catalonia and at 40 years old I even became a professional. It was a continental Paraguayan team, poor, but I was able to run against Nibali, Leipheimer, Contador… I ended up disappointed in that stage because I gave my best, but I ran without means and against the best. From there I decided to switch to mountain biking”.
These steps have taken him to the pinnacle of the discipline, to a MTB Tour de France that Ibon faces this year for the sixth time: the Cape Epic (March 20-27). And the challenge gives off the same illusion as always after in 2021 the Basque finished in the best position on his resume (18th) in a South African round returning to the calendar five months later, the shortest time between two editions. “The Cape Epic is the MTB marathon race par excellence, the MTB Tour de France. There are eight stages, the longest race at the UCI level. It is intense, but also very long, with stages that are around 100 km. An animal. Every year the routes are changed and you do not see two equal days. This year it seems that we have a less technical edition compared to last year. At the timetable level it is also very hard, because the departures of the professionals are usually at 6 in the morning and even so the inscriptions are sold out a year before the start. You live with the best in the world and it is something that every biker should know. It’s like if you participate in a tennis tournament with Djokovic, Nadal and Medvedev.” tells the Orbea Factory Team rider, who, along with his new partner, the Russian Anton Sintsov (after forming a team in the past with Alberto Losada or Aleix Espargaró), will share the starting grid with the living MTB legend, Nino Schurter, champion in 2019 and maximum favorite with his partner, Lars Forster.
Both must pass a total of 681 km and 16,900 meters of accumulated elevation gain, divided into eight stages through South African territory, to be crowned as finishers in Val de Vie, the greatest satisfaction. Without forgetting that Ibon will combine all this adventure with his YouTube channel, where he informs his followers with a daily video of his experiences in the race. Pure “reality”, as he likes to say. But does that mean greater wear and tear?: “I work with YouTube now more than before. I’ve been a communicator all my life, I’ve always liked talking to people and telling my experiences. In 2007 he already had a blog called Diario Ciclista, which was the most widely read in Spain. I used platforms like Facebook and Instagram and by natural evolution I ended up on YouTube, but I never had the idea to dedicate myself to it. I am privileged: I do what I like and I count what I do”.
“The Cape Epic is the Tour de France of mountain biking”
Ibon Zugasti
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As usual, he will cope with it with the passion that he always puts on an MTB bike that for years has become his faithful companion to compete and for which he does not miss his beginnings on the road: “On the road you suffer a lot. My stage there is over. The 200 of the peloton don’t see what’s going on. They tell me that Ineos signs me and neither as a gift, nor as a masseur. Unthinkable. I would not do a Tour or as a journalist.” Now it’s time to think in the key of Cape, with the “very big balls” (he mixed English and Spanish in an interview) as the flag that Ibon himself made famous in last year’s edition among some participants who profess admiration, respect and affection for equal parts. Although it is “one more”, as he says, the rooster has earned it.
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