On Wednesday, on the Pyrenean top of Col du Portet, the second of the three victories (for now) stage of the tyrant of the Tour de France, Tadej Pogacar, gesture of rage, open mouth, the yellow jersey is grabbed as if it were afootballer showing his zamarra.Under his neck, the white inner shirt and five letters in capital letters appear, a name unknown to the majority, although familiar to the thousands of amateur cyclists who pedal on Spanish roads every weekend.For a few years, almost all growers wear Gobik.Now also the best in the world.

«They tell us that I was prepared, but no, it was an instinctive gesture of Tadej.Of course, it has had a gigantic repecursion, ”they tell from the textile company, hallucinated with the impact.Because Gobik, Pogacar's skin, has its origin in a city in Murcia and in the initiative of two young people who had been in cycling for a little more than a decade ago an opportunity.

Yecla, 35.000 inhabitants, in the north of the region, border with Alicante and Albacete, has a huge tradition in the furniture and related industry: upholstery, mattress...But the first construction crisis arrived and the Ikea phenomenon later, a stick for the people, and had to be reinvented.Nothing had to do with the two wheels Alberto García and José Ramón Ortín, both Yeclanos, beyond their passion for sport.One developed a product for a motorcycle helmet company and the other was an architect.Gobik was born.Eleven years later it has a template of 170 employees, with an average age below 30 years, all of them at the original Yecla plant.At a weekly rate of production of more than 13.000 garments, nearly one million a year.And growing.

The Matxin connection

Because Gobik already looks at you at the elite of cycling clothes since his relationship with the UAE Team Emirates team, the winner of the last Tour and, except catastrophe -in almost six minutes Jonas Vingegaard, the second, in the absence of today's chrono in Saint Emilion-, of the present.An agreement for several years for which the presence of Joxean Fernández Matxin as director facilitated things."A crossroads", a ball for the national company, but also "a responsibility".«We have not launched until we felt prepared.Because this is a transatlantic.The requirements of a team are very special.Clothing is made to measure each corridor.Retail.Because everyone has their preferences, their hobbies: they ask you for more or less short sleeves, the culotte, the jersey...They are extremely thin and sizes vary.It is a huge job that also evolves during the season, as they vary in weight, ”describes Alberto Ayala, a repair communication and marketing of Gobik.

It is his irruption in the World Tour, the only Spanish company there, rubbing with the dominators of the market.With the British Rapha (Education First), the great reference at an amateur level, with the Italian Castelli (Ineos Grenadiers), Sportful (Bora Hansgrohe) and Alé (Movistar, Groupam)....Since the mythical Etxeondo (Kas, Reynolds, Banesto, Euskaltel and, finally, Sunweb) left the World Tour wheel, there was no other company 'Made in Spain' in that elite.

Dressing the Tour leader was a dream, an ambition from Alberto and José Ramón, who are now CEO of the company.But until I get it, despite the speed, there have been many intermediate steps.Because initially, his vocation was (and remains) to create custom cycling clothes for clubs, companies and events.First from Murcia, then throughout Spain.Set based, five years ago they launched their first fashion collection and little by little they were sponsoring professional MTB teams (Carlos Coloma's spring after winning bronze in Rio).

On December 31, 2018, one of his first media blows arrived, when Alberto Accountant recruited as ambassador.A "turning point" in its international strategy in the middle New Year's Eve.They penetrated the Italian market with Iván Basso and now, unstoppable expansion, they already wear, in addition to the UAE, other professional road teams such as the Eolo Kometa and the Burgos female female and several more from Mountain Bike.The third of its ambassadors is Juan Antonio Flecha.

His secret, what they try to differentiate them, continues to reside in their manual touch.Although a lot of machinery intervenes, the artisanal factor is key.And that are human resources.For the UAE, for which they have had to fold their product design and development team in the last year, they have had to incorporate, on the demand of the team, eight new garments that did not exist in their catalog, to which they must submit tointense quality and operation test before launching them.All from the Yecla factory (design, printing, pattern, clothing, logistics...), although its international expansion is already a whole fact (they have physical stores on the five continents), with the direct impact on Pogachar's skin.And several more teams calling for the door.