Preview
ByReuters
Published 08/04/2007 at 19:18 GMT
Former winners Jose Angel Gomez Marchante and Iban Mayo of Spain, Italy's Danilo Di Luca and Russian Denis Menchov are expected to make the running in this week's Tour of the Basque Country.
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
The six-day stage race begins with back-to-back mountainous stages which will force the favourites to hit the ground running on Monday with live streaming on eurosport.com from 1545 CET.
After tackling nine climbs on stage one on Monday, with a summit finish in the town of Urretxu, riders then face the second category mountain top ascent to Pozalagua on Tuesday.
The daunting eight kilometre Jaizkebel climb, often used in Spain's biggest one-day race, the Clasica San Sebastian, features on Friday's stage.
After 35 classified ascents in five days, the winner will only become clear after the 14 kilometre final hilly time trial on Saturday.
Another favourite is rising Spanish star Alejandro Valverde, winner of two stage races this season and second in last year's Tour of the Basque Country.
Alberto Contador of Spain, current leader of the ProTour and winner of the Paris-Nice stage race in France this March, also cannot be ruled out.
"I'm not the favourite for the Basque Country, I've been in top condition for quite a while now," the 24-year-old said.
"However, the Basque Country has a route which is much more suited to my racing style than Paris-Nice was, and I won Paris-Nice."
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement