The Tour of the Basque Country (Officially: Itzulia Basque Country)[1] is an annual road cycling stage race held in the Spanish Basque Country in April. It is one of the races that make up the UCI World Tour calendar. As the Basque Country is a mountainous area, there are few flat stages, and thus the event favors those who are strong climbers. The race is characterized by its short stages, rarely exceeding 200 km, and steep ascents. While the ascents featured in the race aren't particularly high compared to other stage races, they are among the steepest seen in professional cycling, some having sections with gradients reaching well above 20%.[2]
The original Tour of the Basque Country had a troubled history, with eight editions contested between 1924 and 1935, before the civil war seemingly wiped it out for good. One of these early editions is commentated on in Ernest Hemingway's novel The Sun Also Rises.
In 1952, the Eibar Cycling Club (erstwhile backers of Spain's first national stage race, the pre-Vuelta a EspañaGran Premio República) launched a new 3-day event called Gran Premio de la Bicicleta Eibarresa to celebrate its 25th anniversary. Former French national champion Louis Caput took the inaugural edition.
In 1969, organizers opted to promote the race (by then five stages long) as IX Vuelta al País Vasco - XVIII Bicicleta Eibarresa, effectively merging the Bicicleta Eibarresa into a reborn Tour of the Basque Country. However, the palmares of the Bicicleta Eibarresa (featuring Vuelta a España winners Jesús Loroño and Rolf Wolfshohl) is not recognized as part of the Tour of the Basque Country's history. The Eibar Cycling Club would relinquish control of the competition following the 1973 edition, while retaining the rights to the Bicicleta Eibarresa name, which has sporadically been reactivated to help promote other, lower ranked events.
The first winner of the Tour of the Basque Country was Francis Pélissier from France, while the first winner of the 'modern' Tour (1969) was Jacques Anquetil, also of France. The most successful riders in the history of the Tour are Spain's José Antonio González, who won the race four times in 1972, 1975, 1977 and 1978, and Spain's Alberto Contador, who also won the race four times in 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2016. Since its revival in 1969, it has been held every year with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
^Spanish: Vuelta al País Vasco, Basque: Euskal Herriko Itzulia
^Middendorp, Koen. "Voorbeschouwing: Ronde van Het Baskenland 2019". Wieleflirts. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
^"Itzulia Basque Country past winners 1924 to 2021". cyclingnews.com. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
^Ryan, Barry (13 April 2019). "Tour of the Basque Country 2019: Stage 6 Results". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
^"Primoz Roglic wins Itzulia Basque Country". cyclingnews.com. 10 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
^Fletcher, Patrick (9 April 2022). "Daniel Martínez wins Itzulia Basque Country". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
External linksedit
Official website(in Spanish)
Tour of the Basque Country palmares at Cycling Archives
December 01, 2023
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The Tour of the Basque Country Officially Itzulia Basque Country 1 is an annual road cycling stage race held in the Spanish Basque Country in April It is one of the races that make up the UCI World Tour calendar As the Basque Country is a mountainous area there are few flat stages and thus the event favors those who are strong climbers The race is characterized by its short stages rarely exceeding 200 km and steep ascents While the ascents featured in the race aren t particularly high compared to other stage races they are among the steepest seen in professional cycling some having sections with gradients reaching well above 20 2 Tour of the Basque Country2022 Tour of the Basque CountryRace detailsDateEarly AprilRegionSpanish Basque CountryEnglish nameTour of the Basque CountryLocal name s Vuelta al Pais Vasco in Spanish Euskal Herriko itzulia in Basque DisciplineRoadCompetitionUCI World TourTypeStage raceWeb sitewww wbr itzulia wbr eusHistoryFirst edition1924 1924 Editions62 as of 2023 First winner Francis Pelissier FRA Most wins Jose Antonio Gonzalez ESP Alberto Contador ESP 4 wins each Most recent Jonas Vingegaard DEN Contents 1 History 2 Winners 2 1 Multiple winners 2 2 Most stage wins 2 3 Wins per country 3 References 4 External linksHistory editThe original Tour of the Basque Country had a troubled history with eight editions contested between 1924 and 1935 before the civil war seemingly wiped it out for good One of these early editions is commentated on in Ernest Hemingway s novel The Sun Also Rises In 1952 the Eibar Cycling Club erstwhile backers of Spain s first national stage race the pre Vuelta a Espana Gran Premio Republica launched a new 3 day event called Gran Premio de la Bicicleta Eibarresa to celebrate its 25th anniversary Former French national champion Louis Caput took the inaugural edition In 1969 organizers opted to promote the race by then five stages long as IX Vuelta al Pais Vasco XVIII Bicicleta Eibarresa effectively merging the Bicicleta Eibarresa into a reborn Tour of the Basque Country However the palmares of the Bicicleta Eibarresa featuring Vuelta a Espana winners Jesus Lorono and Rolf Wolfshohl is not recognized as part of the Tour of the Basque Country s history The Eibar Cycling Club would relinquish control of the competition following the 1973 edition while retaining the rights to the Bicicleta Eibarresa name which has sporadically been reactivated to help promote other lower ranked events The first winner of the Tour of the Basque Country was Francis Pelissier from France while the first winner of the modern Tour 1969 was Jacques Anquetil also of France The most successful riders in the history of the Tour are Spain s Jose Antonio Gonzalez who won the race four times in 1972 1975 1977 and 1978 and Spain s Alberto Contador who also won the race four times in 2008 2009 2014 and 2016 Since its revival in 1969 it has been held every year with the exception of 2020 due to the COVID 19 pandemic From 2022 the race has a counterpart in the UCI Women s World Tour the Itzulia Women The winner traditionally dons a basque beret on the podium Winners editSource 3 Year Country Rider Team1924 nbsp France Francis Pelissier1925 nbsp Belgium Auguste Verdyck1926 nbsp Luxembourg Nicolas Frantz1927 nbsp France Victor Fontan1928 nbsp Belgium Maurice De Waele1929 nbsp Belgium Maurice De Waele1930 nbsp Spain Mariano Canardo1931 1934 No race1935 nbsp Italy Gino Bartali1936 1968 No race1969 nbsp France Jacques Anquetil1970 nbsp Spain Luis Pedro Santamarina1971 nbsp Spain Luis Ocana1972 nbsp Spain Jose Antonio Gonzalez1973 nbsp Spain Luis Ocana1974 nbsp Spain Miguel Maria Lasa1975 nbsp Spain Jose Antonio Gonzalez1976 nbsp Italy Gianbattista Baronchelli1977 nbsp Spain Jose Antonio Gonzalez1978 nbsp Spain Jose Antonio Gonzalez1979 nbsp Italy Giovanni Battaglin1980 nbsp Spain Alberto Fernandez1981 nbsp Italy Silvano Contini1982 nbsp Spain Jose Luis Laguia Reynolds1983 nbsp Spain Julian Gorospe Reynolds1984 nbsp Ireland Sean Kelly Skil Reydel Sem Mavic1985 nbsp Spain Pello Ruiz Cabestany Seat Orbea1986 nbsp Ireland Sean Kelly Kas1987 nbsp Ireland Sean Kelly Kas1988 nbsp Netherlands Erik Breukink Panasonic Isostar Colnago Agu1989 nbsp Ireland Stephen Roche Fagor MBK1990 nbsp Spain Julian Gorospe Banesto1991 nbsp Italy Claudio Chiappucci Carrera Jeans Tassoni1992 nbsp Switzerland Tony Rominger CLAS Cajastur1993 nbsp Switzerland Tony Rominger CLAS Cajastur1994 nbsp Switzerland Tony Rominger Mapei CLAS1995 nbsp Switzerland Alex Zulle ONCE1996 nbsp Italy Francesco Casagrande Saeco AS Juvenes San Marino1997 nbsp Switzerland Alex Zulle ONCE1998 nbsp Spain Inigo Cuesta ONCE1999 nbsp France Laurent Jalabert ONCE Deutsche Bank2000 nbsp Germany Andreas Kloden Team Telekom2001 nbsp Lithuania Raimondas Rumsas Fassa Bortolo2002 nbsp Spain Aitor Osa iBanesto com2003 nbsp Spain Iban Mayo Euskaltel Euskadi2004 nbsp Russia Denis Menchov Illes Balears Banesto2005 nbsp Italy Danilo Di Luca Liquigas Bianchi2006 nbsp Spain Jose Angel Gomez Marchante Saunier Duval Prodir2007 nbsp Spain Juan Jose Cobo Saunier Duval Prodir2008 nbsp Spain Alberto Contador Astana2009 nbsp Spain Alberto Contador Astana2010 nbsp United States Chris Horner Team RadioShack2011 nbsp Germany Andreas Kloden Team RadioShack2012 nbsp Spain Samuel Sanchez Euskaltel Euskadi2013 nbsp Colombia Nairo Quintana Movistar Team2014 nbsp Spain Alberto Contador Tinkoff Saxo2015 nbsp Spain Joaquim Rodriguez Team Katusha2016 nbsp Spain Alberto Contador Tinkoff2017 nbsp Spain Alejandro Valverde Movistar Team2018 nbsp Slovenia Primoz Roglic LottoNL Jumbo2019 4 nbsp Spain Ion Izagirre Astana2020 No race due to the COVID 19 pandemic2021 5 nbsp Slovenia Primoz Roglic Team Jumbo Visma2022 6 nbsp Colombia Daniel Martinez Ineos Grenadiers2023 nbsp Denmark Jonas Vingegaard Team Jumbo VismaMultiple winners edit Wins Rider Editions4 nbsp Jose Antonio Gonzalez ESP 1972 1975 1977 1978 nbsp Alberto Contador ESP 2008 2009 2015 20163 nbsp Sean Kelly IRL 1984 1986 1987 nbsp Tony Rominger SUI 1992 1993 19942 nbsp Maurice Dewaele BEL 1928 1929 nbsp Luis Ocana ESP 1971 1973 nbsp Julian Gorospe ESP 1983 1990 nbsp Alex Zulle SUI 1995 1997 nbsp Andreas Kloden GER 2000 2011 nbsp Primoz Roglic SLO 2018 2021Most stage wins edit Rider Stage wins1 nbsp Domingo Perurena ESP 11 nbsp Sean Kelly IRL 113 nbsp Laurent Jalabert FRA 94 nbsp Tony Rominger SUI 8 nbsp Samuel Sanchez ESP 86 nbsp Alberto Contador ESP 77 nbsp Miguel Maria Lasa ESP 6 nbsp Joaquim Rodriguez ESP 6 nbsp Alejandro Valverde ESP 69 nbsp Jose Antonio Gonzalez Linares ESP 5 nbsp Stefano Zanini ITA 5 nbsp Primoz Roglic SVN 5Wins per country edit Wins Country27 nbsp Spain7 nbsp Italy5 nbsp Switzerland4 nbsp France nbsp Ireland3 nbsp Belgium2 nbsp Colombia nbsp Germany nbsp Slovenia1 nbsp Denmark nbsp Lithuania nbsp Luxembourg nbsp Netherlands nbsp Russia nbsp United StatesReferences edit Spanish Vuelta al Pais Vasco Basque Euskal Herriko Itzulia Middendorp Koen Voorbeschouwing Ronde van Het Baskenland 2019 Wieleflirts Retrieved 12 April 2019 Itzulia Basque Country past winners 1924 to 2021 cyclingnews com 31 March 2022 Retrieved 12 April 2022 Ryan Barry 13 April 2019 Tour of the Basque Country 2019 Stage 6 Results cyclingnews com Retrieved 12 April 2022 Primoz Roglic wins Itzulia Basque Country cyclingnews com 10 April 2021 Retrieved 12 April 2022 Fletcher Patrick 9 April 2022 Daniel Martinez wins Itzulia Basque Country cyclingnews com Retrieved 12 April 2022 External links editOfficial website in Spanish Tour of the Basque Country palmares at Cycling Archives Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Tour of the Basque Country amp oldid 1185940658, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
