• Classification This is the Tour

On Wednesday, at the top of the Col du Portet in the Pyrenees, the second of the three stage victories (for now) of the tyrant of the Tour de France,

Tadej Pogacar

, gesture of rage, open mouth, clutches the yellow jersey as if it were a footballer showing his jacket. The white undershirt and five capital letters protrude under his neck, a name unknown to most, although already familiar to the thousands of amateur cyclists who pedal the Spanish roads every weekend. For a few years now, almost all the grupetas have been wearing Gobik. Now also the best in the world.

“They tell us he was ready, but no, it was an instinctive gesture from Tadej. Of course, it has had a gigantic repetition ”, they say from the textile company, amazed with the impact. Because

Gobik

,

Pogacar's

skin, has its origin in a city in Murcia and from the initiative of two young people who just over a decade ago saw an opportunity in cycling.

Yecla, 35,000 inhabitants, in the north of the region, bordering Alicante and Albacete, has a huge tradition in the furniture and related industry: upholstery, mattresses ... But the construction crisis came first and the Ikea phenomenon later, a stick for the people, and it had to be reinvented.

Alberto García and José Ramón Ortín

, both from Yecla,

had nothing to do with the two wheels

, beyond their passion for the sport.

One was developing a product for a motorcycle helmet company and the other was an architect.

Gobik was born.

Eleven years later, it has a staff of 170 employees, with an average age of under 30, all of them at the original plant in Yecla.

At a weekly rate of production of more than 13,000 garments, close to one million a year.

And growing.

The Matxin connection

Because Gobik already looks from you to you at the elite of cycling clothing since his relationship with the UAE Team Emirates began at the beginning of the season, that of the winner of the last Tour and, except for catastrophe - he has had an advantage over Jonas Vingegaard in almost six minutes. , the second, in the absence of today's clock in Saint Emilion-, of the present. An agreement for several years for which the presence of Joxean Fernández Matxin as director made things easier. "A crossroads", a hit for the national company, but also "a responsibility." “We have not launched until we have felt ready. Because this is an ocean liner. The requirements of a team are very special. The clothes are made to measure for each runner. Retail. Because everyone has their preferences, their hobbies:

they ask for more or less short sleeves, shorts, jerseys

... They are extremely thin and sizes vary. It is an enormous job that, in addition, evolves during the season itself, as they vary in weight ", describes Alberto Ayala, Gobik's head of communication and marketing.

It is their irruption in the World Tour, the only Spanish company there, rubbing shoulders with the dominators of the market. With the British Rapha (Education First), the great reference at the amateur level, with the Italians Castelli (Ineos Grenadiers), Sportful (Bora Hansgrohe) and Alé (Movistar, Groupama), the Swiss Assos (Qhubeka), the French Ekoi (Cofidis ) .... Since

the mythical Etxeondo

(Kas, Reynolds, Banesto, Euskaltel and, finally, Sunweb) left the World Tour wheel, there was no other company 'made in Spain' in that elite.

Dressing the Tour leader was a dream, an ambition of Alberto and José Ramón, who are now CEO of the company. But to achieve this, despite the speed, there have been many intermediate steps. Because initially, his vocation was (and still is) to create personalized cycling clothing for clubs, companies and events. First from Murcia, then throughout Spain. Settled there, five years ago they launched their first fashion collection and little by little they were sponsoring professional MTB teams (

Carlos Coloma's

Primaflor

after winning bronze in Rio).

On December 31, 2018, one of their first media coups came, when they recruited

Alberto Contador

as an ambassador. A "turning point" in its international strategy in the middle of New Year's Eve. They entered the Italian market with Iván Basso and now, an unstoppable expansion, they already dress, in addition to the UAE, other professional road teams such as the Eolo Kometa and the Burgos Alimenta female and several more mountain bike teams. The third of its ambassadors is Juan Antonio Flecha.

Their secret, what they try to set them apart, still resides in their manual touch.

Despite the fact that a lot of machinery is involved, the artisanal factor is key.

And that is human resources.

For the UAE, for which they have had to double their design and product development team in the last year, they have had to incorporate, at the request of the team,

eight new garments that did not exist in their catalog

, to which they must submit to intense quality and performance tests before launching them.

Everything from the Yecla factory (design, printing, pattern making, clothing, logistics ...), although its international expansion is already a fact (they have physical stores on five continents), with a direct impact on Pogacar's skin.

And several more teams already knocking on the door.

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