The best of Basque literature is full of butterflies. In the work of the great contemporary Basque novelist Bernardo Atxaga butterflies fly in and out of the scenes and the scenery, commentating at times on what they see. It is their bright, visual presence that enchants us, their imagery and symbolism. Butterflies are plentiful in the Basque lands, in spring and summer, the mountains are their domain, and those mountains of course include the Pyrenees. It is no wonder that the Basque language contains so many words, to describe and name these butterflies, not mariposas, but, tximeleta, mitxirrika, pitxilota, a whole language of miresicoletea, some say two hundred or so words. And it is no wonder that Euskaltel have adopted the butterfly in this year of transition.

The butterfly that symbol of metamorphosis and rejuvenation adorns the Euskaltel kit this year. A year that begins without their long standing director and ex-Indurain domestique, Julian Gorospe. Without the insular and erratic Iban Mayo, and without the team's original member, Roberto Laiseka, the veteran of thirteen long (or short as he says) seasons, which as much as anything else have marked the mystique of this small team from this small mountainous land straddling France and Spain.

Butterflies also suggest a coming of age, the time when something has gone through a number of stages to finally bloom and soar. Butterflies fly in a group, they are not led but their flight is a constantly moving form, almost an ebb and flow of flight. They seem at once to be together, but at the same time to be everywhere, subtle and delicate they are identifiable, but untouchable,  you just can't put a hand on them. These are too some of the qualities with which Euskaltel have enchanted cycling fans, including those from their home country, who make up the Orange Tide that swarms over the Pyrenees every summer. In the wake of Mayo's departure, this year Euskaltel wants to reinforce this group like nature of their project, teamwork and the idea of all for one and one for all. They want to be brimming with magic and illusion, to fly together through the mountains, whilst at the same time being all over the place and untouchable to their rivals.

The Basque president, Juan Jose Ibaretxe, said paying homage to Jean Marie Leblanc, one of two very special guests at this year's Euskaltel team presentation: "The Tour de France needs the Basque people, and the Basque people need the Tour de  France. This is a friendship forever!" Ibarretxe's comments recognise the role that Leblanc and the Tour have played in the not only the team's growth, but importantly as well, in the nurturing of a positive image for his country abroad. Leblanc for his part acknoweldged the great contribution of the team, its fans, and in particular Roberto Laiseka in igniting the Euskaltel project. He described Euskaltel as "a very special and an exemplary team" within the world peloton. Leblanc siad that "victories are important but this team's image and its relationship with and its fans are more important and valuable than any victory"

In this year of transition, Euskaltel will go to the Tour with the brief of bringing back some magic to cycling, a magic that Leblanc acknowledged was there when Roberto Laiseka scaled the heights of Luz Ardiden to give them their first great victory all the way back in 2001. In this year's Tour the aim will not be to be boring and hold your cards, but to dance like a butterfly and sting like a bee. Overall Euskaltel hopes, with its mix of new blood and veterans under the guidance of Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, to rejuventate cycling and to commence to lay a solid base for the future. As Miguel Madariaga said the team's focus will be on "acting and working as a team to restore much needed hope and life to cycling".

This year Euskaltel will not set the Tour as their only focus for the year. This emphasis is not on hype, on singular goal setting that centres on each July. Their recognised team leader, the meticulous, Samuel Sanchez, probably wont even start. With his string of late season victories under his belt, Samuel feels the World's and the Classics are the races for him in 2007. At the presentation the team members already looked remarkably thin and 'in form'. While some will suffer and lose even more weight at the Tour, Samuel will be at home eating. "My season is divided into two parts. I have to be in form in April, for the Vuelta Pais Vasco and for the classics. After that I will stop. I have to put on some kilos to prepare for the Vuelta a España and the World Champs", Samuel said.

The Basque president, Ibarretxe, himself a keen cyclist, continued telling the team and the audience that in sport, just as in politics, "you have to dream and this team is one of our dreams and hopes for the future ... who of us thirteen years ago would have said that Euskaltel would participate in the Tour? Who of us would have said then that we would ever had enjoyed the sight of Roberto Laiseka winning with such life an unforgetable stage to Luz Ardiden? We have to keep on dreaming, because when we dream, things become reality".

On a night like this, which started out with the traditional duel between two Basque folk singers (bertsolari) outdoing each other, with their improvised verse about the team, a night which included a homage to the team's grand old man of the mountains, Roberto Laiseka, and a night which paid homage to the teams' French patron, Jean Marie Leblanc, with a season ahead, after the season that we have all just been through, what more could we have, as we watch Euskaltel prepare for what comes, but, butterflies in our stomachs.