Photos: Oscar Diaz "Dandy"
now 50 years ago an extraordinary journey. An August 8, 1960, young cyclists and Angel Serrano Luis Bilbao and Vitoria José Luis Sáenz de Olazagoitia, arrived with their bikes to Rome. After a long journey from Vitoria, would be received in audience by Pope John XXIII. His bags were full of illusion. At the request of luggage carried the canonical statement Dorleta Virgin as patroness of cyclists. They say that the "Good Pope", amateur cyclists and tifossi Bartoli, it was not hard to give his blessing. On August 17, returned to the capital Vitoria, tired but happy, and the 28th of that month, the Virgin was proclaimed "Patron of English cyclists" in Upper Arlaban, 587 m, where is located the shrine in the town of Salinas de Léniz (Guipúzcoa), a soft and beautiful climb frequented by Basque cyclists.
The idea of \u200b\u200bthese riders goes back two years ago, in 1958, when a group of friends cyclists, led by Luis, the father of José Luis, form a committee declaration of the Virgen de Dorleta our patron. On 28 October of that year he had held his coronation in the forecourt of the sanctuary, where many parishioners gathered, most of them cyclists. Cyclists thought we should have an advocate to whom to entrust us and presented the proposal to the pastor of Salinas and the Bishop of San Sebastián, receiving full support, the same as it was after the various federations, first of Guipuzcoa and Vizcaya , followed by other regional and headed by the English. All warmly welcomed the initiative.
But missing the last step, the canonical statement of the Holy See. And the rest is know, the three cyclists were transferred to Rome by bicycle, carrying the "prayers (the prayers) of the bishop of San Sebastian, but it was not until 1973 when the English Cycling Federation approved the official statutes, recognizing as Virgin Dorleta patron saint of all cyclists. Today
devotion remains. Inside the Sanctuary you can see thousands of offerings of all types of cyclists, especially jerseys, professional, amateur, many clubs came from all over the country, deposited in thanks and as an offering to our patron saint . But roadside, a mile before crowning Arlaban port where we found this treasure trove of cycling, where stands a "santutxo", a monument with the image of Dorleta. At his feet, winter or summer, never missing fresh flowers and other offerings of the bicycle, and a phrase engraved in stone "Mary, Queen of the world, protects the earth in all directions traveled by cyclists who love nature ".
The place, how could it be otherwise, is a meeting point for many cyclists who start from here their exits and often many clubs start the new season coming up Arlaban, to ask for protection of the Virgin .
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