Tour of France
110th Tour de France: everything you need to know about the start
The 110th Tour de France starts today in Bilbao. photo
© Jasper Jacobs/belga/dpa
The Tour de France starts today in Bilbao, with the final taking place in Paris as usual. Everything is ready for the next duel between the two cycling stars Vingegaard and Pogacar.
Jonas Vingegaard vs. Tadej Pogacar: If today is the 110th Tour de France starts in the Basque Country, everything boils down to another duel between the two cycling stars.
It is more than 3,399.5 kilometers from Bilbao in Spain to Paris. With eight mountain stages and only one time trial, the tour will be decided in the high mountains. For the small German contingent with only seven drivers, it is probably only about respectable successes.
Where does the Tour de France start?
The Grand Départ takes place in Bilbao, Spain. It is already the 25th start of the tour abroad, only last year the largest bicycle race in the world started in Copenhagen. In the Basque Country there is traditionally a great deal of cycling euphoria. The first tour start on Spanish soil took place there: 1992 in San Sebastián.
How is the route of the 1st stage?
The favorites around last year’s winner Vingegaard are challenged right from the start. A loose roll is not possible on the first stage over 182 kilometers with start and finish in Bilbao. A hilly route with steep climbs awaits the drivers. The Cote de Pike in particular, just before the finish line, has an average gradient of ten percent over a length of two kilometers and is somewhat reminiscent of the Wall of Huy near Flèche Wallonne. Here at the latest, the sprinters should be left behind with ten kilometers to go. Classic specialists like former world champion Julian Alaphilippe or Mathieu van der Poel could reach for the first yellow jersey.
Who are the favourites?
As in the past two years, it boils down to a duel between the Danish titleholder Vingegaard and the two-time champion Pogacar from Slovenia. Vingegaard has been in impressive form lately. After breaking a scaphoid in the classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège in April, Pogacar returned with two wins at the Slovenian championships. World Champion Remco Evenepoel (Belgium), Olympic Champion Primoz Roglic (Slovenia) and ex-Tour Champion Geraint Thomas (Great Britain) are all absent, having brought forward the Giro d’Italia.
What can the German drivers do?
At best, a stage win might be possible. In any case, there are only seven German professional cyclists at the start, the last time there were so few was 24 years ago. Emanuel Buchmann was fourth overall in 2019, but is no longer in the form he was then. Veteran Simon Geschke spent nine days in a mountain jersey last year, but the 37-year-old is very sluggish after suffering from corona in the spring. Former Tour stage winners John Degenkolb and Nils Politt are scheduled to help. Georg Zimmermann could perhaps try his luck in a breakaway group. Phil Bauhaus would be a candidate for the sprints, also with support from his Bahrain teammate Nikias Arndt.
What are the highlights of the tour?
The tour will definitely be decided in the mountains in 2023. Eight stages through the high mountains, including four mountain finishes, await the riders. The first mountain finish comes on day six in Cauterets-Cambasque, where record winner Miguel Indurain clinched his first Tour stage win in 1989. After that, there are high-altitude finishes on the Puy-de-Dome, the Grand Colombier and Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc. The decision should come on the penultimate day on the difficult stage to Le Markstein Fellering with five climbs. In contrast, there is only one time trial on the 16th stage over 22.4 kilometers, the final traditionally takes place on the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Where is the Tour de France broadcast on TV?
This year, cycling fans can experience every stage of the Tour de France live and free of charge on television. The free TV channels ARD and Eurosport are planning an extensive program. ARD has once again expanded its live reporting in the first. During the week, it is usually broadcast from 2:10 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., on weekends the starting times change. The starting times are mostly the same in the live stream and in the ARD media library. Exceptions are the 2nd, 6th, 7th, 8th and 15th stages. The live stream starts earlier on these days.
Eurosport is also fully involved in the 110th edition of the most important cycling tour in the world, covering all around 3400 kilometers. A total of 120 live broadcast hours are planned for the 21 stages. The paid streaming service DAZN shows the full stream from Eurosport.