The Grande Boucle is aptly named this Saturday for the first stage of the 2023 edition, contested on a circular circuit around the Basque city of Bilbao (182 kilometers).
Bilbao, his Athletic football club, and now his big departure from the Tour. The city is hosting the first stage of this 2023 opus, in the fervor of the Basque Country, whose flag has long floated on the roads of the Tour with the Euskatel-Euskadi formation. This time, no orange jerseys to blow up the race, but a far from quiet first day for the peloton. We must not hope to start piano and climb crescendo in this Tour, under penalty of suffering from this Saturday in Spain.
What is the stage profile?
This time, no prologue or first round for the sprinters. The Tour 2023 attacks directly in the heart of the matter with a leg-breaking stage, strewn with bumps among which five are listed in the classification of the mountain for 3300 meters of unevenness from the start. Three are placed in the last forty kilometers, with the Morga coast (3.9 kilometers at 4.1%), the Rivero coast (4.2 km at 7.3%) and especially the Pike coast, with a name predestined for what awaits the runners’ legs (2 km at 10%, including the last 500 meters at 15.6% average gradient). If this classic little program was not enough, the finish will be judged at the end of a last ramp of one kilometer at 4.4%. Infernal roller coaster as an appetizer.
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Who are today’s favourites?
Such a menu would have looked like an ideal playground for long-range attackers if it had been located in the middle of the three weeks of the event, but at the start of the Tour, the strongest punchers should not leave crumbs to the fugitives this Saturday. Not seen in major competition since his fall on Liège-Bastogne-Liège, except during the Slovenian championships this weekend, Tadej Pogacar (UAE Emirates) will face him on an ideal ground to estimate his state of form. The opportunity also for a possible first duel at a distance with the defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), less referenced on short but violent climbs.
Overall contenders will have to rise to the occasion to avoid wasting time. The big odds could also be Danish, with Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), still unknown to the general public but in great shape in recent months (winner of the Tour de Suisse, second at the top of the Mur de Huy on the Flèche Wallonne).
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The classic hunters Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) will try to win the first yellow jersey of this Tour 2023. If he is in better shape than during the French championships, Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick-Step) could also join the fight. The new wearer of the tricolor jersey Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ) will also be one to watch on such a profile. This first stage will also be an opportunity for Egan Bernal to return to the Grande Boucle, and to lands he knows well. The Colombian has the best historical time of the ascent of the Vivero coast on the Strava application since 2018, when he had just joined the Sky.
What are the schedules ?
12:00 p.m.: start of the broadcast on France 2 and france.tv
12:30 p.m.: fictitious departure
12:55 p.m.: real start
5:15 p.m.: expected arrival in Bilbao