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Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco, Spain

3 - 8 April

Preview

Startlist
Photos
2005 Results

Stages
3 April, Stage 1, Irún - Irún, 130K
4 April, Stage 2, Irún - Segura, 155K
5 April, Stage 3, Segura - Lerin, 170K
6 April, Stage 4, Lerin - Vitoria-Gasteiz, 172K
7 April, Stage 5, Vitoria-Gasteiz - Zalla, 178K
8 April, Stage 6, Zalla TT, 24K
Total 829K

 

One thing is for certain. Whoever wins this year's Vuelta al País Vasco (Tour of the Basque Country) will be a climber. The race consists of five road race stages, all of which contain at least one category 1 climb, not to mention countless other category 2 and 3 climbs. The Spanish professional ranks are stacked deep with climbers, and you can bet they'll be flogging themselves for the right to take a stage victory. The action will be guaranteed from the gun.

There is one other certainty about this year's running of the Tour of the Basque Country: Danilo Di Luca will not repeat as the winner. With his new found stage racing prowess Di Luca fancies himself one of the favorites for overall glory in the Giro d'Italia in May and will want to not peak too early for that appointment.

So who's the likely winner? Well, the boys in orange (Euskaltel-Euskadi) would be the obvious choice since they all climb like goats and they know the roads like the backs of their hand. The problem for them is that their big stars, Mayo and Zubeldia, have had a few not-so-brilliant seasons. Look for Alberto Contador from Liberty Seguros-Würth to do something big. If he can come out of the first five stages with a reasonable advantage, then he should be able to maintain it in the final TT. After all, he won last year's final individual crono in this event. Also look to Carlos García Quesada and Santos Gonzalez to ruffle some feathers.

The first stage takes in no less than 5 categorized climbs, with the toughest being the infamous cat. 1 Alto de Jaizkibel (used in the Clásica San Sebastián) coming a few kilometers from the finish. Stage 2 is absurdly hilly. There are twelve categorized climbs to negotiate before reaching the finish. On to stage 3 where the peloton will face only 6 climbs, however, the stage culminates on a nasty little category 3 stinger. Stages 4 and 5 each are littered with many climbs not giving the riders any chance for respite. The final individual crono is short at 24K, but it packs in a few climbs, one of which tops out at 310 meters.

No stage is remarkably long. In fact, there's not a stage over 180K. But don't be fooled. It will be a suffer fest each and every stage.
- Paco