Key points:
Ø Pogacar, Van der Poel and Van Aert identified by the riders as favourites for stage 1 in Bilbao. Alaphilippe and Pidcock also in the mix.
Ø Egan Bernal is back at the Tour de France, so is Mark Cavendish on the hunt for his 35th stage win but the field of sprinters is very competitive.
Ø Movistar, the longest serving team, starts on home soil in the Basque Country with sole leader Enric Mas. A huge crowd gathered in the streets of Bilbao to give them and the other riders a very warm welcome at the teams presentation in front the Guggenheim Museum.
FIRST MAILLOT JAUNE UP FOR GRABS
The first Maillot Jaune of the 110th Tour de France will be presented to stage 1 winner on the edge of Etxebarria park in Bilbao after cresting the Pike climb with 9.6km to go. On his return to the race following a one-year hiatus, Julian Alaphilippe bids again after he took the lead early in the race on three occasions when he won stage 3 to Epernay in 2019, stage 2 to Nice in 2020 and stage 1 to Landerneau in 2021. “I’m still punchy”, the Frenchman warned. “But in the Pike climb, there will be three big musketeers, I’m talking about Pogacar, Van der Poel and Van Aert of course. Compared to them, I’m now a small musketeer. I’ve done all I could to be ready for this start in the Basque Country. I reckoned stage 1 twice and I can say it suits me well.” “I think there won’t be big gaps”, Tom Pidcock echoed. “I can see a very select group making it to the finish line, with only leaders on it and a lot of disorganization. That could mean that a lone rider can attack and make it to the finish. But I don’t know… Maybe I’m not experienced enough to answer that question!” The local crowd would love to see a Basque rider winning at Bilbao: “Being realistic, among us, Alex Aranburu and Pello Bilbao have the best chances to succeed”, said Ion Izagirre.
THE BIG COME-BACK OF EGAN BERNAL
Another duel between defending champion Jonas Vingegaard and his predecessor Tadej Pogacar is highly awaited, however the last three winners of the Tour de France are at the start in Bilbao as Egan Bernal, the victor in 2019 and sole Colombian on the record books, got the call to be part of the Ineos Grenadiers line up one and half years after his life-threatening accident while training in his country. “Before the Dauphiné, my plan was to be on holiday at this time”, Bernal explained. “I was in a big doubt to come here during the Dauphiné. I didn’t perform too badly there… So they took a decision the next week. In the Dauphiné, they asked me to keep my focus on just in case I was selected for the Tour. It was a big goal for me, so it wasn’t difficult to do so. To be honest, I’m not sure (of my goals). It’s my first three-week race in a long time, and I was not preparing this race 100%. I’ll do my best. The first big goal is to not lose too much time in the first days. After this we will decide what to do. I have a free role on the team. To reach Paris would be fantastic. Of course I’d like to get back to the level I had before the accident and confront myself with those who are now the world’s best cyclists.”
MOVISTAR FEELS AT HOME
Many riders are familiar with the roads of the Basque Country but there’s no more local team than Movistar. The squad based in the neighbouring province of Navarra embarks for its 41st Tour de France with a sole leader: Enric Mas. His best overall result so far was fifth in 2020 and the first of his pro victories up to date was stage 6 of the 2018 Itzulia Basque Country. “Starting from home makes it a different Tour”, the Mallorcan said. “Danish riders had an edge on the rest of the field last year because we started from Copenhagen. This year we are starting from Bilbao, so all the Spanish riders will try to make the most of knowing these roads by heart. Spanish fans want Carlos [Rodriguez], Mikel [Landa] and me to try and defeat Pogacar and Vingegaard. It isn’t easy, but I wouldn’t say it’s impossible. I don’t want to say I’ll be on the podium, but I’m hoping for that and I’m looking forward to it.”
EIGHT OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE SPRINTERS?
According to the rules book, “stages 3, 4, 7, 8, 11, 18, 19 and 21 are expected to finish with a bunch sprint.” It leaves more room for the fast men than last year when Jasper Philipsen won two standard bunch sprints on the flat while Fabio Jakobsen, Dylan Groenewegen and Christophe Laporte took one win each. All four top sprinters are back in contention along with Wout van Aert who focused on different stages in 2022. Caleb Ewan hasn’t won a Tour de France stage since the Champs-Elysées in 2020 due to several crashes but he’s back with a Lotto-Dstny team entirely built around him. Mark Cavendish also returns after one year of absence for chasing the 35th win that would enable him to become the sole record holder of stage victories as he shares the first place with Eddy Merckx for now. “There are a lot of sprinters and most of us are close to each other”, Groenewegen. “I hope for Cavendish to win a stage but that’s one less chance for us. On the third day we have a small chance for a bunch sprint finish.” “We hope there will be sprints on day 3 and 4”, echoed Jakobsen. “But it’s the riders who make the race. We will see how it plays out. The first pure sprint will be Bordeaux. But we can expect a huge bunch to make it to the finish line in stages 3 or 4… but no one can tell for sure what will happen.” The last stage winner in Bordeaux was… Cavendish, in 2010.
THE HISTORY OF THE 22 TEAMS AT A GLANCE
Movistar is one of the five teams out of twenty-two in contention who have already won the Tour de France at least twice. The squad managed by Eusebio Unzué made it seven times for their previous title sponsors (five with Miguel Indurain, one with Pedro Delgado and Oscar Pereiro), just as many as Ineos Grenadiers (four with Chris Froome, one with Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal). Two teams won it twice: Astana Qazaqstan (with Alberto Contador and Vincenzo Nibali) and UAE Team Emirates (with Tadej Pogacar). Jumbo-Visma (1). Jumbo-Visma holds the record of stage wins: 70. The Dutch outfit is second in the number of participations (39) behind Movistar (40) and before Lotto-Dstny (36). Ineos Grenadiers leads the tally of the Maillots Jaunes (91) ahead of Movistar (79) and Jumbo-Visma (45). Uno-X is the only newcomer this year but teams that Tour de France fans are accustomed with are yet to win a single stage (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty and Arkea-Samsic) or to wear the Maillot Jaune (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty, Arkea-Samsic, Bahrain Victorious and Israel-Premier Tech).