Iñigo Elosegui
DOWN-TO-EARTH TALENT. It’s really rare for a rider as talented as Iñigo Elosegui has proven to be in his junior & under-23 stage to be even more known because of his intelligence as a race and his charming character out of the bike. Such is the human quality of this young hopeful from the Basque Country, a grandson of José Antonio Momeñe -4th overall in the 1966 Tour de France; winner of stages in the Giro and the Vuelta-, who os enjoying with the Movistar Team a chance to race some of the events where his grandpa wrote a page of Basque cycling’s legend.
POLYVALENT BRILLIANCE. The Club Ciclista Trapagaran / Renault Autonervión, the Fundación Euskadi and, most importantly, the Equipo Lizarte have seen Iñigo growing exponentially, to the point of becoming Spanish champion (2018) and winning the Memorial Valenciaga (2019), the most prestigious one-day race in the national amateur calendar. He’s a cyclist still to find his strongest point, since he’s good at everything: a strong rouleur and time trialist, a good climber, an excellent rider for hilly races, a courageous one when it comes to launching long-range attacks, and even one who likes the cobblestones.
SEEKING FOR GOOD HEALTH. Elosegui’s first two pro seasons have been overshadowed by misfortune. Some harmstring pain and a couple of crashes in the Northern Classics hampered his performance in 2020, where he also struggled with the hardest part of the pandemic as everybody in the team. 2021 wasn’t better, suffering from covid himself as well as other injuries, which prevented him from covering more than 20-some days of racing. He was actually the first to pin a number on his back in 2022, competing at several cyclo-cross events to cure his ‘racing disease’, which he hopes to turn his back on in 2022.
LOTS OF INTERESTS OFF THE BIKE. An avid reader, one of those riders who always throws some interesting books into his suitcase for longer races; a student of a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management; and a decent musician -he studied for seven years-, Elosegui is also fond of Japanese culture: he’s visited the country, he’s learning the language and the hardcore fans from Japan recognise him as almost one of theirs.