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The 7 Basques who will ride a home start at the 2023 Tour de France
CyclingThursday, 29 June 2023 at 23:30
This Saturday, a historic Grand Départ of the Tour de France will take place from Bilbao and will feature three stages through Basque lands. Therefore, it is not surprising that the cyclists of the land are more than motivated to face the race.
A total of 7 Basque cyclists are in the race this year: two in Movistar Team (Alex Aranburu and Gorka Izagirre), two in Bahrain Victorious (Mikel Landa and Pello Bilbao), two in INEOS Grenadiers (Jonathan Castroviejo and Omar Fraile) and one in Cofidis (Ion Izagirre).
Despite his poor form in Dauphiné due to a physical problem, Mikel has had a very solid 2023, having finished second in Andalucía and Itzulia, third in Flèche Wallonne, fifth in the Volta and seventh in Valencia and Tirreno Adriatico. His big goal: the final podium in Paris.
Pello Bilbao
He was competing at a very good level in the Tour of Switzerland before his withdrawal due to the death of his teammate Gino Mäder. We don't know if he will want to fight for the top 10 overall as he has historically done in his Giro d'Italia participations or if he will try to fight for stages. For sure he will try in the first two stages in Bilbao and San Sebastian.
In principle, he arrives to work on the flat for Enric Mas, but he is a powerful and fast man and should look for his chances of winning either in the first stages in the Basque Country (where competition will be fierce) or in a breakaway taking advantage of his speed.
Gorka Izagirre
He is not going through the best moment of his career. He arrives as part of the Movistar Team block that should be dedicated to helping Enric Mas. He will be looking for breakaways in any case if the Mallorcan fails.
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Omar Fraile
He has the quality to try to do some damage in the Basque stages, but knowing how INEOS works, we assume that he will act throughout the Tour as a domestique like Jonathan.
After finishing on the podium in the Itzulia behind Jonas Vingegaard and Mikel Landa, he couldn't finish Romandie because of Covid-19 and in Switzerland he finished 12th overall. Cofidis arrives in theory with Frenchman Guillaume Martin as leader and he should have total freedom to look for stages and a high place in the overall.
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