The Bizkaia-Durango team has raised the necessary money to be able to ride the Giro Rosa, which starts on June 30th, team director Jon Elorriaga has confirmed to SPanish newspaper Deia. The Spanish squad is one of the 19 teams to have been invited to the one remaining women’s “Grand Tour”, but announced at the end of last month that it had a €18-20,000 shortfall which would have to be raised if the team was to be able to ride.
The World economic recession has been felt very hard in Spain, with the men’s and women’s sport finding it tough to attract sponsors.
One of the things credited by Elorriaga for successfully raising the money was the mobilisation of the team’s riders who, through various social media, called for donations to a specially created bank account. One example was a pair of wheels raffled on Facebook by Spanish champion Anna Sanchis.
"This is great news,” said Sanchis. “For us to participate in this race is very important. For me, in particular, it is one of the major goals of the season. It's a race that I have ridden in the past and I have a lot of love for it.
“We want to thank all the people, all the fans, that their contributions to the bank account we opened, which will help to make this possible."
Although the team’s participation in the Giro Rosa now seems secure, the team is still far from out of financial trouble, and may have finding the necessary funds to ride a number of the end-of-season races.