Roglic, for Rominger and Kelly in an Itzulia that promises emotions

the slovenian Primoz Roglic, winner in 2018 and 2021, will seek to match Swiss Tony Rominger and Irishman Sean Kelly in this edition of Itzulia Basque Country on the list of winners of the winners of the traditional Basque Basque Tour on a route that, like every year, promises emotions.

Far away were the winners of three Vueltas and an Olympic time trial gold, the Spaniards José Antonio González Linares, from Cantabria, and Alberto Contador, from Madrid, who achieved four wins. Most in the race.

Without the rivalry of his compatriot Tadej Pogacar, who ultimately chose not to travel to Itzulia, Roglic will try to repeat his apparent excellence in 2021when he added his second victory in the UCI WorldTour Basque race defeated, among others, the winner of the last two Tours de France.

To win his third ‘txapela’, the Jumbo Visma leader will have a great team, where Jonas Vingegaard and Sepp Kuss also stand out, and have a route in his favor.

Dominator of all race profiles in one stage lap, Roglic could wear a yellow jersey from day one, an individual time trial with start and end in Hondarribia. A 7.5-kilometer route with a Third Category scoring port (San Cosme, Km.3.1) and two slopes with ramps of up to 12 percent.

Also noteworthy on the route are the third and fifth stages, with explosive endings, and, most importantly, the final fireworks of the last stage at Eibar with seven climbs and the only three First Class climbs. throughout the race.

The climbs included Azurki (5.1 km at 7.4 percent), Krabelin (4.1 out of 10) and Usortza (4.5 out of 8.8), the latter at 2,500 meters from the finish line. Krabelin and Usortza climbed Arrate through various slopes.

From the third episode, between Laudio and Amurrio, Opellora’s final chained double stands out (3rd; 1.1 to 13). and Ozeka (2nd; 3.5 to 7.4) through winding, narrow roads that are almost flat where placement will be key.

And from the fifth, the second day on hardness, the final ramp to 16 per cent ending in Mallabia on a route with five scoring ports and a few more climbs that didn’t.

The fourth can also provide a game with two steps to the Nursery, the latter (2nd; 6 to 6.3) at 20 kms. from the finish line at Zamudio, and the Urruztimendi wall (2nd; 1,900 meters to 11) another 20 kms. data.

The second stage, which ends with Viana, encourages us to think of a final sprint, otherwise large, yes with a large group of runners.

In total, it will be 882.2 kms. of travel and total 25 high scores: three from the First, nine from the Second and 13 from the Third.

In addition to Roglic and Jumbo, and not the classics Mikel Landa and Alejandro Valverde on the list, race pre-registration highlights the Fast Step of world champion Julian Alaphilippe and Remco Evenepoeland the Ineos Grenadiers of Geraint Thomas, Adam Yates and the promising Carlos Rodríguez.

Also the Bahrain of Pello Bilbao (Mader), the UAE of the exciting Juan Ayuso (Majka, McNulty, Soler), the Movistar of Enric Mas, the Cofidis of Ion Izagirre, winner in 2019, the Bora of Sergio Higuita (Buchmann , Grosschartner), Tsgabu Grmay’s BikeExchange, Michael Woods ’Israel, David Gaudu’s Groupama, Trek (Juanpe López) and Jonathan Caicedo’s EF (Camargo, Padun).

The work of the national ProTeams, Euskaltel-Euskadi (Azparren, Bizkarra), Caja Rural (Nieve), Burgos BH (Dani Navarro) and Kern Pharma (Carretero and the young Igor Arrieta), will be activate the race with daily breakaways that precede important momentsalthough there is always a purpose to give a bell.