With the Tour of the Basque Country taking place at the beginning of April, why not look back to one of the craziest editions of the Euskal Bizikleta race in 1995. The Euskal Bizikleta was a Basque one week stage race that existed next to the Tour of the Basque Country. The parcours was similar to the modern version of Itzulia as it usually featured the famous last stage around Eibar with the Alto de Arrate, unlike the then Tour of the Basque Country, which mostly used other climbs during those years.
It was quite a prestigious race and, given that it took place in June, served as preparation for the Tour de France. Consequently it featured big name champions such as Gianni Bugno, Piotr Ugrumov, Miguel Indurain and Abraham Olano. In 2009, Euskal Bizikleta and Tour of the Basque Country eventually merged to form the modern Tour of the Basque Country.
In 1995 the race once again featured a stacked startlist. The strongest team in the race was, as so often during this time, the Italian Gewiss Ballan team, which sent three stars to the Basque Country: Evgeni Berzin, who won Liege Bastogne Liege, the Giro d’Italia in 1994 (ahead of the invincible Miguel Indurain) and was coming off a second place finish in the Giro 1995, Bjarne Riis, who would podium the Tour de France one month later, as well as Francesco Frattini.
An average puncheur with a few results in Italian classics in his earlier years, Frattini was the breakout star of 1995. He performed consistently well throughout the spring one week stage races, spring classics and the Giro d’Italia, winning the Setmana Catalana GC ahead of Alex Zülle, as well as Rund um den Henninger Turm (now Eschborn Frankfurt). In Euskal Bizikleta the Swiss Alex Zülle of Team ONCE was the other big contender. Abraham Olano and Georg Totschnig also participated, but did not end up leaving much of an impression on the race.
After a breakaway victory by Alberto Elli on the first stage, Stage 2, finishing atop the Santuario de Oro, was the first test for the GC riders. The final climb is less than 3km long and not overly steep, but features some difficult sections that could lead to gaps. Frattini had joined the early breakaway that defended a gap of around half a minute into the final climb. Just a few meters after the start of the climb Frattini suffered a puncture, but could join up with teammate Berzin, who had attacked out of the Peloton. The two flew past the remainder of the breakaway and Frattini put in another big attack on the steepest section. Berzin had trouble matching Frattini, but clawed his way back after the gradients decreased again, eventually beating Frattini in the sprint for the stage (yes, they sprinted for it). Zülle came in 12 seconds behind the two. All in all, a great day for Gewiss Ballan, but there seemed be somewhat of a rivalry between Berzin and Frattini.
Regarding the performance level on this ascent, Berzin’s ascent in 4’46min at 8,50ᵉw/kg still stands alone as the single outlier performance on a climb of this duration, in the history of cycling. This may be partly the result of few climbs of this duration being on the parcours in big races, but also a consequence of the sheer absurdity of the level shown by Berzin here. Zülle’s (4’58min at 8,10ᵉw/kg) and Frattini’s (5’06min at 7,89ᵉw/kg, including the time lost by mechanical) were also far from unremarkable.
It needs to be mentioned, that the eccentric Berzin was quite unpopular within the team, especially after he commented that he could’ve also won the 1994 Giro d’Italia without the support of the team. During the 1995 Giro, Berzin and Ugrumov (both Gewiss Ballan) kept attacking each other, which made it easy for Tony Rominger to defend the Maglia Rosa. The two ended up finishing second and third overall. It is unknown if Frattini also disliked Berzin, but it could explain them racing against each other during this stage.
After a few rather uneventful stages, the final two days would decide the General Classification. Alex Zülle won the 20km time-trial ahead of Berzin, who was now only five seconds ahead of Zülle in GC. Frattini actually put up a nice fight in the discipline, considering the fact that he rode the time-trial on a road bike. He finished fourth but lost 48 seconds. It is not known why Frattini rode on a road bike, but most likely the team just did not bring a TT bike for him, thinking that Berzin would be the clear GC leader.
Entering the final stage, Alberto Elli was still in the leaders jersey after his Stage 1 breakaway time gain, but Gewiss Ballan were in a great position with Berzin and Frattini not far behind. The stage was only 102km long, but very difficult. It featured 6 categorised climbs, of which the two ascents of the Alto de Arrate are the most difficult. The first Arrate used the route towards the Ixua Hotel and finished around 55km from the finish, while the second ascent used the classic Arrate route and was the final climb of the day, finishing just 3km from the line.
Gewiss Ballan seemed to enter the stage with a clear plan, as Bjarne Riis entered the early breakaway. This plan became apparent when Berzin already attacked on the first Arrate climb. Elli could follow for a while, before dropping near the top. Berzin climbed the Arrate Izua in 11’41min at 7,40ᵉw/kg (The record on Arrate route belongs to Jonas Vingegaard – 11’17min, set in 2023) The move did not stick however, with both riders eventually caught on the descent. The next Gewiss Ballan attack was more successful, as Frattini snuck away in the valley and bridged to the breakaway together with Francesco Secchiari. Riis and one of Secchiari’s teammates pulled in the group, helping them increase the gap before the final climb to 52 seconds.
As soon as the final Arrate climb started (4,4km at 9,16%), Frattini hit the front of the group to set a ferocious tempo. After around 2 minutes he had shaken off all breakaway compatriots and, without looking back, kept ascending Alto de Arrate at an incredible tempo. His whole body was constantly swerving, as the Italian climbed nearly the whole of Arrate out of the saddle. Behind, Berzin attacked to shake off Elli, but also in pursuit of Frattini, who was threatening to win GC himself. As powerful as Berzin’s attack was, it could barely make a dent in the gap to Frattini. Zülle made his way back to Berzin near the top of the climb and the two favourites crested Arrate after 11’55min of climbing – a record that still stands today, but crucially 40 seconds behind Francesco Frattini, who was now tied with Berzin in the virtual general classification.
In terms of watts, this performance from all three is absolutely incredible. Zülle and Berzin set the all time record on Arrate with 7,65ᵉw/kg and 7,62ᵉw/kg respectively for 11’55min. Frattini was just 12 seconds slower and pushed 7,57ᵉw/kg, setting the 5th fastest time in history. Berzin’s performance can be considered the highest level performance for an effort of this duration in cycling history. The performances of Frattini and Zülle are not far behind.
In the final kilometers, Zülle and Berzin slightly reduced the gap to Frattini, so that both passed him in the general classification. Frattini won the stage, Berzin the overall – another show of dominance from Gewiss Ballan. The Tour de France goes very differently however, as Banesto’s Miguel Indurain reigns supreme and becomes the first rider in history to win Le Tour in five consecutive years. Gewiss Ballan’s Bjarne Riis and Ivan Gotti finished third and fifth respectively, but Berzin and Frattini disappoint.
Frattini never reached this shape again. He only won one more race afterwards and faded into insignificance. Berzin also never won another high level GC race again. Bjarne Riis left to Team Telekom, to get away from Berzin, where he won the Tour de France in 1996.
– ProCyclingStats
It is impossible to talk about Gewiss Ballan without mentioning the doping of their riders, with this scheme being the main reason for their dominance in 1994 and 1995. Dr. Michele Ferrari, who later worked with Lance Armstrong, was the team doctor of Gewiss Ballan in 1994, before being fired after comparing the use of EPO to drinking orange juice. Their rival in this race, Alex Zülle, also admitted to having used EPO during his time at ONCE. Below is a table of leaked hematocrit values of Gewiss Ballan riders, including Frattini and Berzin, originally published in La Repubblica and l’Equipe.
In the December 1994 column one can see the riders’ hematocrits during the off-season, whilst the third column shows the hematocrits at the end of Spring (mid-way through the Giro d’Italia where Berzin and Ugrumov both finished on the podium). What is notable is the variance in change percentage across the various riders, including riders like Frattini (17% change) and Ugrumov (83% change) who were both attending the same race – the Giro d’Italia 1995. The UCI later implemented an upper limit of 50% for hematocrit values, in early 1997.
Gabriel Stróżyk (@NaichacaCycling)
