'Sometimes I don't know what's happening' - How a Kiwi ended up on a legendary Basque team

This season, there's one name that stands out among Euskaltel-Euskadi’s 21-rider roster.

The squad list is loaded with Basque names, a sea of Z's, X's and K's, as you'd expect from a team from the proud region of Spain. Then there are a couple of riders from elsewhere in the country. And then there’s James Fouché, a 26-year-old, from Auckland, New Zealand. 

Since the team restarted in 2018, Fouché is just the second non-Spaniard to pull on the famous orange jersey. Even before that, in the two decades that it ran from 1994 to 2013, only 11 riders born overseas were welcomed into the squad. It is a team that is Spanish to its core, and even more so Basque, with alumni such as Mikel Landa, Pello Bilbao, and the Izagirre twins.

"I remember watching them ever since I started cycling," says Fouché, "watching Sammy Sánchez with the gold, Olympic champ stripes and winning a Tour de France stage. It's awesome to be a part of, and I've definitely got a lot of people back home wanting some kit. Everyone knows the team."

So how, then, did a Kiwi end up on a staunchly Basque team? The move came about when his previous squad, New Zealand-based ProTeam Bolton Equities Black Spoke, collapsed at the end of last year. 

"I was on a two-year deal," Fouché starts, "and I wasn’t looking for anything until the team told us that it was folding, which was after the Tour of Britain, in the middle of September."

British fans might remember the Kiwi as a constant in the breakaway at that race, the eventual winner of the mountains classification. Weeks later, his team bosses announced they were closing down, due to a lack of sponsor support. 

"It was a bit gutting," says Fouché. "I think it stuffed a lot of the boys' careers up unfortunately, being so late, and I was nearly in that boat. 

"I think there were only seven or so that found a professional contract out of the 20 riders. Once we started talking to teams, they were potentially already full. I had some offers from WorldTour teams from before I signed the two-year deal, and I messaged them to see if we could sort something out at the end of last year, and they said, 'Sorry, we're full.'" 

Having lived in Girona, Spain, and raced through Europe, Fouché was familiar with the orange glow of Euskaltel-Euskadi. "And they knew who I was," he says. "The DS from Bolton Equities put me in touch with the DS Pello [Olaberria] at Euskaltel, and it just went from there. Just a simple phone number exchange."

Today, Fouché is the only non-Spanish person on the team, including all of the squad and coaching staff. As a result, there's a marked language barrier. "It's definitely a change from Bolton Equities," he laughs. "They do speak pretty good English, so I know what's happening throughout races, but it's good to learn Spanish or Basque and show that you're making an effort, which I'm trying my best at doing."

He rattles off the Basque words for thank you, good night, and good morning, which he has picked up throughout season. It's a start, he says, but not enough to natter away with his team-mates just yet. 

"My Spanish is alright. I've been taking lessons for a few months with a private tutor now, and I think it helps being on the team as well. Sometimes, at the dinner and lunch table, I don't know what's happening. But hopefully, by the end of the year, I can join in the chat."

In races, Fouché relies on his patchy Spanish, paired with "a bit of common sense", to understand team instructions. So far, he has managed fine, and even rode this month's Itzulia Basque Country, the team's home stage race. 

"It was crazy," he says. "I was super surprised to get selected for it. It was my first ever race in Spain, and my first WorldTour race, so I was really looking forward to it.

"It was an amazing atmosphere, with all the fans on the side of the road shouting for you," he adds. "On the last stage, I was riding in the gruppetto and there were three of us New Zealanders: me, Aaron Gate [Burgos-BH] and Reuben Thompson [Groupama-FDJ]. I was hearing, 'Go James!' and cheers for me. It was pretty cool, and everyone loves the Euskaltel jersey. It always got the crowd a little bit louder every time we went past."

Growing up, Fouché never watched European bike racing live; it was broadcast through the night where he lived in New Zealand, after all. He'd wake up in the morning and, before going to school, catch up on what he missed while he was asleep.

"I got into cycling through school," he explains. "In schools in New Zealand, there's a big cycling scene, and you compete against other schools in team time trials."

In 2019, at the age of 20, Fouché won the under-23 road and time trial national titles, and went on to become both national and continental road champion two years later. He rode for Team Wiggins, alongside Tom Pidcock, spent a year on Axel Merckx’s development team Hagens Berman Axeon, and was a stagiaire at Mitchelton-Scott, before joining Bolton Equities Black Spoke in 2021. 

Now, he's into his fourth month of a one-year contract with Euskaltel-Euskadi. "I haven't got any plans for next year," he says. "I'm hoping to get a contract from someone or Euskaltel again, but at the moment, I'm focusing on the races I've got ahead. I'm hoping to do the Vuelta [a España] at the end of this year with the team." 

It would be Fouché’s first Grand Tour, and a special one too, with stages scheduled in the Basque Country. "Obviously, it will be hard to get selected for that, being the only Kiwi in a full Spanish team, but I think it can be done," he says. 

Who knows, by August, Fouché might be speaking fluent Basque, regaling the dinner table with jokes and tales. Yes, he's the odd one out, but he's no less part of the team.