Bira a no-go

La Bira, one of the most important and prestigious amateur races in the whole of Spain, will not be held this year due to a lack of funding. The Bira would surely have been one of Naturgas' biggest objectives this year if the funding was in place, but now they'll have to do without the long-running stage-race for at least a year. The race was first staged in 1981 and has a proud history. But, like a lot of races in Spain the last few years, they've struggled to keep it going due to the dwindling interest from sponsors. Former Euskaltel quartet Mikel Zarrabeitia, Mikel Artetxe, Roberto Laiseka and David Etxeberria stepped in last year and assumed control of the race to try to keep it alive. They succeeded last year, but this year they were forced to admit defeat in the search for funding. The race has been the breeding ground for many of Spain's best cyclists, and was won last year by talented Uruguayan Fabricio Ferrari.