Riders In 110th Tour De France Will Start From Bilbao In The Basque Country

The 110th Tour de France starts this Saturday, July 1, with the riders setting off from the Basque Country city of Bilbao.

Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard from the Jumbo-Visma team will be looking to defend the title that he won in 2022. The Dane was victorious last year and was runner-up in 2021.

Vingegaard’s biggest threat is expected to come from the UAE Emirates team’s Slovenian rider, Tadej Pogacar. He previously won the iconic ‘Grande Boucle’ in 2020 and 2021.

The 26-year-old Dane arrives at the Tour with a recent victory in the Dauphiné Criterion. He added that win to his victories in the Tour of the Basque Country and in the Gran Camiño.

Tadej Pogacar spent time out sidelined after an accident

‘Pogi’ meanwhile will set off for the first stage, a 182-kilometre ‘undulating’ journey, starting and ending in Bilbao, as the newly crowned national champion in long distance and time trial.

However, the 24-year-old Slovenian’s fitness is anyone’s guess as he was sidelined for almost two months due to a crash at the end of April in Liège-Bastogne-Liège, in which he broke his left wrist.

This year’s champion will be crowned in Paris on July 23. Thrown into the mix of potential winners is the Colombian cyclist, Egan Bernal, who races for the INEOS team, and who won in 2019.

He is back in action after two years of absence and a long recovery caused by a serious accident that he suffered in early 2022, which kept him off the road for seven months.

Ecuador’s Richard Carapaz is among the race favourites

Among the other favourites are the Ecuadorian Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost), who ranked third on the Tour in 2021 and winner of the Giro 2019.

Australia’s Jai Hindley (BORA-hansgrohe) is also heavily backed to be among the frontrunners. France’s biggest hopes are pinned on David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), who came home fourth last year.

Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) and Enric Mas (Movistar) are Spain’s main raiders, while the British twins Simon (Jayco AlUla) and Adam Yates could also be in with a chance.

Mark Cavendish hopes to make history

Britain’s legendary rider Mark Cavendish could make history on this Tour. The 38-year-old is competing in his 14th and final Tour de France and needs to win just one stage in order to overtake Belgium’s Eddy Merckx as the rider with the most individual stage wins.

🔥 The #TDF2023 is underway!

🔥 Le #TDF2023 est lancé ! pic.twitter.com/FAoJBMJWjG

— Tour de France™ (@LeTour) July 1, 2023

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