2023-07-01 07:26:00
Have we crossed a line? With their desire to strengthen the starts of the Tour de France and to reduce downtime as much as possible, Christian Prudhomme and Thierry Gouvenou had to rub their hands when they signed the agreement with the Basque Country for the Grand Départ of the Tour 2023 As in Brittany two years ago, it is not one but two stages which are promised to the punchers and why not to the climbers. A desire that the organizer assumes.
Even if they might have gone even further with the coasts of the Basque Country, the tracers have already strewn with pitfalls the first stage around Bilbao on Saturday and the second, Sunday, towards San Sebastian, taking in particular the road to Jaizkibel, high -place of the Clasica. Why such a plot so early? “Because we want to have the favorites of the Tour shoulder to shoulder from the first weekend, answers Prudhomme. There, we are sure to have them. The slopes of Vivero, Pike, Jaizkibel will allow the best punchers of the Van der style Poel but also Pogacar and Vingegaard to measure themselves from the start. There will be no observation round.
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An urban route… and therefore dangerous
On roads usually taken by the Tour of the Basque Country in April, you should never fall asleep because the danger will be everywhere. “It’s not narrow but not wide either. It’s very urban, uphill, downhill, lots of turns, from the seaside. There will be a lot of people too. It will be a very technical start”, judge Romain Sicard for Eurosport as a good connoisseur of the region. A description which might also recall the Grand Départ from Brittany in 2021 when many favorites, including Primoz Roglic, had lost all hope.
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Basque by adoption, Samuel Sanchez is ambassador for the stage in Bilbao on Saturday. He therefore knows it like the back of his hand and it is with a grimace that he described it to us: “It is very, very hard. It is 3,240m of elevation, it goes up, it goes down, it goes up, it goes down, there is no flat portion, the finish is at the top, it’s horrible. It’s going to be a really incredible stage”. You will indeed have to have a strong heart and “tight shoes” to use the words of Julian Alaphilippe so as not to burn out all your cartridges before a final that everyone is waiting for.
Van der Poel doesn’t really believe it
“We recognized the final, it will be super explosive. A group of ten to fifteen runners, no more, will be able to claim victory”, advances Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates) whom some see as the winner on Saturday in Bilbao. “It’s uncertainty, abounds besides Romain Sicard. Knowing if Pogacar will be able to adorn himself in yellow from the first day”. Everything should be decided in the Côte de Pike (2.1 km at 9.4%), a sort of Mur de Huy with Basque sauce. “It’s at the limit of what I can do I think”, judges a Mathieu Van der Poel who might be cited among the favorites, like Julian Alaphilippe, Wout van Aert or Tom Pidcock.
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More broadly, this first weekend, without establishing a definitive hierarchy for the next three weeks, should give clues… and eliminate certain contenders even risks Romain Sicard: “No one will win the Tour but people will lose it. We can’t cheat and hide a shape that is still somewhat random. There will inevitably be surprises.”
At ASO, we also count on the riders to make the course shine: “We have worked a lot in recent years on the courses, especially in the first week, asks Christian Prudhomme. But it also depends a lot on the champions. And we have lucky to have an exceptional generation.” Tadej Pogacar promised him that even “a second” was worth trying.
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