Quite aside from racing on his home roads of the Basque Country, the start of the Tour de France is special to Pello Bilbao for another reason – he's racing to raise funds to replant on deforested land in memory of Gino Mäder.
The opening two stages of the race saw the Bahrain Victorious rider raise a total of €304 for the Basoak SOS (BaSOS) association, which buys up deforested land to replant it with local species of plants.
Bilbao is donating €1 to the local cause for every rider he finishes ahead of on a stage-by-stage basis at the Tour. On stage 1 in Bilbao, the 33-year-old finished 40th from 175 finishers, resulting in the €135 haul. Stage 2 to San Sebástián saw him go on the attack on the descent of the final climb of the Jaizkibel before placing fifth, ahead of 169 others. It'll all add up over the next three weeks, too.
Bilbao is following in the footsteps of his Bahrain teammate Gino Mäder, who passed away after a crash at last month's Tour de Suisse. The Swiss racer held environmental causes close to his heart and supported African re-greening project Just Diggit as he rode, donating €1 per rider he beat at last year's Vuelta.
The pair were close, with Mäder naming his dog Pello in tribute to Bilbao. Now the Basque rider is paying tribute to Mäder at this year's Tour de France.
"Following in Gino's footsteps and continuing his legacy, during this Tour de France, I will donate €1 to the BaSOS association for each rider who finishes after me in each stage," Bilbao wrote on Twitter. "The goal is to buy deforested land and replant it with local species.
"Gino will soon have a piece of forest in the Basque Country," Bilbao wrote in a subsequent post. "Among those of you who make a donation of more than €50, I will raffle my jersey from the Tour de France. Any help is important, and many small contributions can create big changes."
The BaSOS association, based in Busturialdea, was founded in 2021 by locals "concerned about the evolution of the surrounding landscape" the association's website states.
"In the name of the BaSOS association, we have launched a fundraiser to finance the land we want to buy," the statement continues. At the time of writing the crowdfunding goal was at 34% of the final target goal. You can donate to the BaSOS cause at the association's website.
Bilbao, who hails from Gernika which featured on the route of the stage 1, said ahead of the Tour that he hoped he and his Bahrain Victorious team could honour Mäder with a win before the race exited the Basque Country.
"It was a nice story about Gino's dog," he told reporters in the pre-Tour press conference. "I think he had this small connection to the Basque Country and it would be great to continue with this connection if we can give him a nice victory in the home stages.
"Obviously the race comes at a difficult moment for me. When all of this happened, I thought it was not going to be possible to get to the Tour in the best condition possible.
"But I came home, spent some time with my family and I realised that this [the Tour start] was going to be a unique day in my life and [if I didn't go] it wouldn't have been possible to show all the work I'd put in up until then.
"So now I'm at that point, just trying to do my best, absorb all the good vibrations from our fans and try to do something special in the first stages here in the Basque Country."
