Bahrain Merida Pro Cycling Team (Bahrain) – Bahrain Merida Team announced that Gorka Izagirre, Ion Izagirre’s older brother, will join the team in the next season.

Gorka Izagirre is a 29 years old professional rider from Basque country, Spain. He started his career with team Contentpolis-Ampo in 2009 and transferred the next year to Euskaltel-Euskadi, where his brother Ion soon joined him. In 2014 they both signed with Movistar Team.

Gorka has a remarkable list of professional cycling achievements. He won 1st Stage of Vuelta a Espana in 2014, he was 2nd in Time Trial on National Road Championships in 2015. That same year he was 8th overall on Tour Down Under and 9th overall in Paris-Nice. In 2016 he was 5th overall in Dubai Tour and in 2017 he won the 8th Stage of Giro d’Italia, he won Klasika Primavera and was 4th overall in Paris-Nice.

Gorka said: “I’m very happy with the new team for my next season. I think I will be an important part of it. I’m excited to join my new teammates and start to get to know them.”

Brent Copeland, General Manager of the team, commented: “We at Bahrain Merida are very excited about this new signing. Gorka is not only one of the worlds best domestiques but also a very solid stage race rider with his two top ten finishes in the Paris Nice and Santos Tour of Down under as well as his great win in a stage during the Giro d’Italia. I see Gorka doing great things at BAHRAIN MERIDA, he is a rider that belongs in this team together with his brother Ion. He represents everything that we look for in a BAHRAIN MERIDA rider, consistency, hard worker with clear ideas of where he wants to go and last but not least a great team rider. We are sure our fans and team mates are very much looking forward to him starting. We would like to thank him for joining our team and give him a big welcome.”