Tour of the Basque Country 2023: GC Favourites

[Underneath article was written before the start of the Tour of the Basque Country and has not been updated]

On paper, stages 1 and 2 are the material that sprinters and/or attackers find appealing, while the GC action is likely to ignite on the third day of action. Punchers must be looking gleefully forward to the four wall-like climbs inside the last 15 kilometres. Eventually, the riders arrive home in Liatza after an insane final kilometre with a 26% ramp in the last 200 metres.

Stage 4 is not really suited to open time gaps among GC contenders. A 7.4 kilometres climb at 6.5% precedes a 10 kilometres descent and a flat finale. Stage 5 is in a way a more condensed version of it, with three short, sharp ramps in quick succession and a descent to the line. Appealing, that’s for sure, and suited to go bananas with attacks, but not exactly what you want if you want to put minutes into your rivals.

The GC battle is expected to come down to the final stage. Seven classified ascents account for a total elevation gain of 3,400 metres on a 137.9 kilometres long route. The interesting aspect is that the climbs are situated relatively far from the line. So attacks should come early.

So far, four riders have been successful in the UCI World Tour stage races of 2023 – Jay Vine (Tour Down Under), Remco Evenepoel (UAE Tour), Tadej Pogacar (Paris-Nice), and Primoz Roglic (Tirreno-Adriatico, Volta a Catalunya). None of them line-up in the Basque Country.

Pogacar was in class of his own in Paris-Nice. Gaudu and Vingegaard were the best of the rest, and they finished in second and third, respectively. Simon Yates wound up in fourth place in the Race to the Sun.

Two former winners line-up at the start in Vitoria-Gasteiz – title defender Daniel Felipe Martínez and home rider Ion Izagirre, who won the race in 2019.

Favourites 2023 Tour of the Basque Country

**** David Gaudu, Jonas Vingegaard, Simon Yates
*** Enric Mas, Sergio Higuita, Richard Carapaz, Pello Bilbao
** Esteban Chaves, Daniel Felipe Martínez, Mikel Landa, Marc Soler
* Ion Izagirre, Egan Bernal, Rigoberto Uran, Bauke Mollema, Pierre Latour