Luis Angel rugAndalusian cyclist Euskaltel-Euskadipresented this Friday at Estepona Town Hall his new “madness”. A solidarity and ecological action which consists in the fact that, for each kilometer that the Foundation’s crack runs through, a tree will be planted in a Sierra Bermeja affected by the fires.
Luis Ángel Mat’s latest initiative
“I wish I never had to take this initiative because it would mean that the Sierra Bermeja fire did not happen. It was an unprecedented disaster in the province. An area of extremely high ecological value has was burned”, explains Mat to MARCA.
This year, LaVuelta is stopping over there (Peas Blancas). “It’s a chance that he passes where the fires are. As a cyclist it is a source of pride, but also as a Malagan. To take advantage of an international event to show our advantages is an opportunity unique. At LaVue goes more and more beyond mere sport. This initiative was born in this context, taking advantage of the framework of LaVuelta and also in the current context with the problem of fires. We need to create an increasingly strong social conscience vis-à-vis the environment”.
A privileged few
Mat shows his office every day. Reasons why you should do it. “We have the best stadium in the world. There are beautiful ones: the new Bernabu, Maracan, San Mams… but ours is prettier because we have one every day: Sierra Bermeja, Burgos Cathedral, Holland… But we also have a responsibility to take care of it because it’s ours. And that’s where the ‘Every kilometer, a tree’ initiative was born,” he adds.
A very interesting action that has already been born with 300 trees. “Every kilometer of the next Vuelta in a breakaway, I put a tree. At the beginning, for fear of getting sick, I fall or I can’t catch a breakaway (which is not easy). I planted 100 trees, LaVuelta doubled it (200) and my team, Eskaltel-Esuakdi, planted another 100 (300). I think this is a very important action to leave a fair legacy to new generations. We have to leave the environment as or better than we found it.”
Great “partners”
An initiative that ‘El Lince’ wants to thank “first to the Mayor of Estepona (Jos Mara Garca Urbano) and especially also to Javier Guilln and La Vuelta. Both supported the idea from the start. They gave me ideas and ways to do it. Let’s hope that this forest of LaVuelta grows healthy and is a reference to bequeath to future generations. Surely more people will join this initiative because we want a tree to be born for each kilometer of escape”. This new forest has already been born with 300. In other years it has reached 500 km of escape. How many have- did she realize this time? “I don’t know, but for me, that’s one of my big motivations.”