After three days in the flatlands of Holland, the Vuelta a España returns to much more familiar territory on Tuesday with two extremely technical, hilly stages in the Basque Country. The stages will begin a radically different kind of racing where, as Remco Evenepoel recently put it, “the real Vuelta” will begin.
Most of the Vuelta peloton are familiar with the Basque Country’s rabbit warren of rural backroads, crisscrossed by narrow, sinuous climbs and equally difficult descents.
Quite apart from the Vuelta’s recent venture into the Euskadi ‘cycling labyrinth’ in 2020, other annual events like Itzulia Basque Country, Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa, or a handful of lower-category events like the one-day Ordiziako Klasikoa – won in July by Simon Yates (BikeExchange-Jayco) for a second time in his career – all take place here.
The majority of the peloton will know, therefore, that quite apart from the numerous opportunities on offer for attacking on short, punchy climbs, the winding, often tree lined, roads of Euskadi always make it difficult to organise a chase as well.
Further boosting their appeal to have a crack at getting away in the Vuelta’s two stages running exclusively on Basque terrain is that in a peloton crammed with top names, the chance of a victory or perhaps even the leader’s jersey would ease the pressure considerably almost before the race has begun. Nor should the morale boost received by the huge support for almost every race in the region, large or small, be underestimated.
The mood in the peloton, then, is likely to be anything but calm and the lack of rain forecast this week in the Basque Country means that there will be little to dampen their more ambitious spirits in a literal sense, either.
On top of that, some big names like Yates, Primož Roglič, Alejandro Valverde, and Evenepoel have already taken some memorable victories in the Basque Country. In Evenepoel’s case, his latest win there came thanks to his dramatic breakaway in the 2022 Donostia San Sebastian Klasikoa, while Valverde has snapped up numerous stages in the Vuelta and Itzulia, as well capturing San Sebastian twice.
Roglič secured a memorable win last year in Itzulia, too, thanks to an impressive late ambush (on a downhill, no less) on the final stage. Don’t be surprised if he tries something similar this time round.
But while the GC contenders may have more limited room for manoeuvre (although that didn’t stop Primož Roglič from claiming the red jersey in the…
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