Jordi Fortià: Lance Armstrong planted the seed of bicycle tourism in Girona. Today the networks spread it all over the world

GironaAmong the luxurious high-end bicycle establishments with English names that have proliferated in Girona in recent years, drawn by the cycle tourism boom, the small shop-workshop Bicicletes Fortià stands firm. Throughout its 44-year history, it has managed to earn a loyal clientele that values the professionalism and the friendly, approachable manner of the business owner, Jordi Fortià.

There is no glamour in his workshop, although his customers know that the service they receive is of the highest level. The bicycles for sale are not displayed in carefully decorated windows as if they were unattainable luxury objects, even though they may be the best on the market. At the back of the shop, bicycles under repair share space with tires, wheel spokes, and all kinds of tools and parts that will allow them to be left like new. Also in this corner is the small customer service counter where, on September 16th, Jordi Fortià had placed a cake with two candles that formed the number 71. It was a special date for him, because he was turning 71 and because it was his last day at the helm of the business he founded in 1982 in a city where, as he recalls, "among the few people who rode bicycles, there were almost no women".

The succession: a 21st-century mechanic

Jordi Fortià has retired, but Bicicletes Fortià has not closed its doors. The succession that Fortià could not find in any of his four children has been passed on to Miquel Llop, the young man who helped him while training as a bicycle mechanic. "I am a 20th-century mechanic, and the one who is replacing me is a 21st-century mechanic," admits Jordi Fortià with modesty, but without downplaying the importance of his career at the helm of a benchmark bicycle shop and workshop in Girona, where he has managed to survive the threatening wave of large establishments dedicated to cycle tourism. "We cannot compete against these huge stores today. I could have expanded the business, but my philosophy is not to grow, but to eat little and digest well. And I have defended myself with what I know how to do, with the experience accumulated over the years," explains Jordi.

The forced farewell to racing

Born in Flaçà, 16 km from Girona, as a young man Jordi would take his bicycle every day to go to the Girona capital, where he worked in a car mechanic shop. "Many days, before starting work I had already been cycling for two hours, because I had left home very early and would ride up to the Àngels mountain," he recalls. The bicycle for him has been more than a hobby: he became a professional racer and won several races in the youth and amateur categories. In the professional category, he participated in major races such as the Volta a Catalunya and the Vuelta a España or the Tour de France. Until, at only 25 years old, lower back discomfort forced him to say goodbye to racing. "It was a hard blow, because with the bicycle I had seen heaven, I had been very happy," he laments.

The setback, however, did not sink him and he managed to find a new path that kept him linked to the world of cycling: taking advantage of the knowledge acquired at the mechanic shop where he had worked years before, he opened his own bicycle repair and sales business on Miquel Blay street in Girona, near the old town.

Fortià: the importance of the name for the new business

There were already others in the city, businesses like this, but he joined with an advantage: "Having been a cycling racer, my name generated trust and I quickly gained clients," he recalls. He was also helped by the fact that he was one of the few mechanics who sold and repaired racing bicycles. "Back then, the brands didn't send them to us ready for sale, but you had to assemble them from top to bottom, and to do that it wasn't enough to have tools, but above all you needed mechanical knowledge and experience," he says.

Throughout the 44 years he has been at the helm of Bicicletes Fortià, always on his own, Jordi has known how to adapt to the dizzying evolution of the cycling world: in a few years he has experienced the appearance of mountain bikes, gravel or electric bikes, and new mechanisms such as disc brakes, suspension, automatic pedals... An authentic revolution that never left him behind, and which now, he assures, his successor, young Miquel, will face successfully, thanks to his solid and qualified training and his ten years of experience in this profession.

The return to the bicycle, now for health

He admits that it was hard for him to step aside, that "he never found the moment to retire," because he was passionate about his work even though it kept him for endless hours in the workshop, even without vacations in the first years of opening the business. Now that he has made the decision, he is very clear that he wants to dedicate his time to his family and to sports: running and picking up his bicycle again, "not to compete, but for health." "At a certain age, even though your head asks you to make the effort you would make at 20, you have to be aware that your body has aged and you cannot push it to the limit –he states–. Being an athlete is knowing how to listen to your body, realizing that if you do not recover from an effort, it is because your body is telling you that you have already reached the limit."

Enjoying his city and its surroundings more is another of the luxuries that retirement will grant him. "Girona is a cyclist's paradise: they find a perfect territory there, an ideal climate, good gastronomy, mountains, sea..." 20 years ago Lance Armstrong planted the seed for the cycle tourism boom in Girona. Today, social networks have helped spread it all over the world."