Tour of the Basque Country 2024: The most important facts in brief
- Date: 1 to 6 April, 6 stages
- Distance: ~ 830 kilometres
- Start: Irun, Target: Eibar
- Profile: Five hilly stages, one individual time trial
- UCI category: World Tour
- Premiere: 1924, 63rd edition
As in previous years, the 2024 Tour of the Basque Country will take place at the beginning of April. The Itzulia is characterised by short, steep climbs and the cycling-mad Basque fans, who turn the tour into a unique spectacle every year. Last year, Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard won the tour.
Tour of the Basque Country 2024 - Favourites: Stars around Roglic and Vingegaard take part
Last year's winner and two-time Tour de France winner Jonas Vingegaard is likely to be the top favourite for overall victory again this year. He and his team-mate Sepp Kuss from Visma | Lease a Bike will be at the start. After a mixed debut for Primoz Roglic's Bora-Hansgrohe at Paris-Nice, the three-time Vuelta winner can now show what he's made of at the 2024 Tour of the Basque Country. Other big names who will be at the start of the Itzulia are Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) and Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers).
Tour of the Basque Country 2024: The route with all stages & elevation profiles at a glance
The route of the Tour of the Basque Country stretches over 800 kilometres, with short and steep climbs in every stage. Over the six days, the riders have to cover over 13,000 metres in altitude. The first stage is an individual time trial, followed by hilly stages on the following days. There are therefore no real flat stages, so sprinters will not really be able to make the most of the tour. The final sixth stage is particularly tough with a total of seven categorised climbs. There is no mountain finish at the Itzulia Basque Country 2024.
Stage 1 | Monday, 1 April | Irun - Irun | 10 kilometres (individual time trial) - 176 vertical metres
The 2024 Tour of the Basque Country begins with an individual time trial over 10 kilometres, starting and finishing in Irun. The race begins with a cobbled section with a gradient of 10% - this section could already decide the day's victory. This is followed by a category 3 climb before the time trial ends after a descent with a short ramp with a maximum gradient of 10%. The gaps between the favourites should not be too far apart due to the shortness of the race.
Stage 2 | Tuesday, 2 April | Irun - Kanbo | 160 kilometres - 2308 vertical metres
Stage 2 of the 2024 Tour of the Basque Country takes the riders into the French part of the Basque Country. From the Spanish border town of Irun, the route heads north-west past Bayonne to the finish in Kanbo.
Although there is only one categorised climb on the stage, there are hardly any flat sections. The terrain could favour fast breakaways, and a bunch sprint is also possible at the end.
Stage 3 | Wednesday, 3rd April | Ezpeleta - Altsasu | 190.9 kilometres - 3132 vertical metres
At over 190 kilometres, stage 3 of the 2024 Tour of the Basque Country is not only the longest, but also one of the most difficult. The riders have to tackle a total of six categorised climbs on this stage. On this day, the route leads from France back into Spanish territory to the finish in Altsasu.
The first climb on the Otsondo and the Lizarrusti 20 kilometres before the finish are particularly tough. The last 18 kilometres are then flat, so climbers should also have sprinting skills in order to win a possible sprint in a smaller group.
Stage 4 | Thursday, 4 April | Etxarri Aranatz - Legutio | 159 kilometres - 2146 vertical metres
Stage 4 takes the peloton further west to Legutio, which is located north of the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz. With a total of three categorised climbs, the stage is more relaxed for the riders than the previous day, but sprinters are still only likely to have minimal chances of winning the stage.
The riders first have to tackle the Opakua, a category 2 climb, in the first third of the race. After an uncategorised climb 40 kilometres before the finish, two more mountain classifications follow. There are then less than 10 kilometres from the last classification to the finish line, so the teams are likely to rely fully on their breakaway riders.
Stage 5 | Friday, 5 April | Vitoria-Gasteiz - Amorebieta-Etxano | 175.9 kilometres - 2214 vertical metres
The profile of stage 5 is similar to that of the previous day. There is a demanding climb in the middle of the race before two 3rd category mountain classifications on Muniketagane, which is crossed twice in a circuit, shortly before the finish. The finish is in Amorebieta-Etxano, just outside Bilbao. A breakaway victory can also be expected here.
Stage 6 | Saturday, 6th April | Eibar - Eibar | 137.8 kilometres - 3472 vertical metres
The final 6th stage of the Tour of the Basque Country is identical to last year's final stage, starting and finishing in Eibar. Although it is not 140 kilometres long, a total of seven categorised climbs have to be tackled. It will therefore be difficult for the classification teams to control the peloton. The final decision in the overall classification will probably only be made on the last stage, and larger gaps between the individual riders are inevitable.
The mountain classifications are all typical for the Basque Country. They are all less than ten kilometres long, but almost all have a maximum gradient of over ten percent. The rider with the highest explosiveness on the short but crisp climbs could therefore prevail here.
Tour of the Basque Country 2024 today: TV broadcast & live stream
In Germany, the 2024 Tour of the Basque Country will take place at Eurosport transferred. With discovery+ (via paid subscription) will also offer a live stream of all stages.
The TV broadcast times at a glance
- Stage 1: Monday, 1 April | from 15:30 Eurosport 1
- Stage 2: Tuesday, 2 April | from 15:30 Eurosport 1
- Stage 3: Wednesday, 3 April | from 15:30 Eurosport 1
- Stage 4: Thursday, 4 April | from 15:30 Eurosport 1
- Stage 5: Friday, 5 April | from 15:30 Eurosport 1
- Stage 6: Saturday, 6th April | from 15:00 Eurosport 1
Tour of the Basque Country 2024 - Participants: the start list
Visma | Lease a Bike
- 1 Jonas Vingegaard
- 2 Steven Kruijswijk
- 3 Sepp Kuss
- 4 Loe van Belle
- 5 Johannes Staune-Mittet
- 6 Ben Tulett
- 7 Milan Vader
Soudal - Quick Step
- 11 Remco venepoel
- 12 Gil Gelders
- 13 James Knox
- 14 Mikel Landa
- 15 William Junior Lecerf
- 16 Pieter Serry
- 17 Louis Vervaeke
Movistar
- 21 Alex Aranburu
- 22 Jon Barrenetxea
- 23 Davide Formolo
- 24 Pelayo Sanchez
- 25 Gregor Mühlberger
- 26 Nelson Oliveira
- 27 Gonzalo Serrano
Bora-Hansgrohe
- 31 Primoz Roglic
- 32 Roger Adria
- 33 Emanuel Buchmann
- 34 Jai Hindley
- 35 Bob Jungels
- 36 Maximilan Schachmann
- 37 Matteo Sobrero
EF Education EasyPost
- 41 Rigoberto Uran
- 42 Jefferson Cepeda
- 43 Esteban Chaves
- 44 Sean Quinn
- 45 Archie Ryan
- 46 James Shaw
- 47 Markel Beloki
Arkea-B&B Hotels
- 51 Clement Champoussin
- 52 Elie Gesbert
- 53 Alessandro Verre
- 54 Anthony Delaplace
- 55 Laurens Huys
- 56 Lukasz Owsian
- 57 Kevin Vauquelin
Team Jayco-AlUla
- 61 Lucas Hamilton
- 62 Davide De Pretto
- 63 Eddie Dunbar
- 64 Felix Engelhardt
- 65 Rudy Porter
- 66 Christopher Juul-Jensen
- 67 Mauro Schmid
Lidl Trek
- 71 Mattias Skjelmose
- 72 Andrea Bagioli
- 73 Julien Bernard
- 74 Fabio Felline
- 75 Tao Geoghegan Hart
- 76 Bauke Mollema
- 77 Natnael Tesfatsion
Groupama-FDJ
- 81 David Gaudu
- 82 Lorenzo Germani
- 83 Romain Gregoire
- 84 Quentin Pacher
- 85 Remy Rochas
- 86 Clement Russo
- 87 Reuben Thompson
Cofidis
- 91 Ion Izagirre
- 92 Thomas Champion
- 93 Simon Geschke
- 94 Gorka Izagirre
- 95 Jonathan Lastra
- 96 Stefano Oldani
- 97 Harrison Wood
UAE Team Emirates
- 101 Juan Ayuso
- 102 Igor Arrieta
- 103 Sjoerd Bax
- 104 Isaac del Toro
- 105 Brandon McNulty
- 106 Marc Soler
- 107 Jay Vine
Bahrain-Victorious
- 111 Pello Bilbao
- 112 Yukiya Arashiro
- 113 Nikas Arndt
- 114 Santiago Buitrago
- 115 Johan Price-Pejtersen
- 116 Jasha Sütterlin
- 117 Edoardo Zambanini
Intermarche-Wanty
- 121 Louis Meintjes
- 122 Vito Braet
- 123 Alexy Faure Prost
- 124 Tom Paquot
- 125 Kevin Colleoni
- 126 Lorenzo Rota
- 127 Pure Taaramäe
Astana Qazaqstan Team
- 131 Samuele Battistella
- 132 Gleb Brussenskiy
- 133 Igor Chzhan
- 134 Gianmarco Garofoli
- 135 Harol Martin Lopez
- 136 Ide Schelling
- 137 Anton Kuzmin
TotalEnergies
- 141 Mathieu Burgaudeau
- 142 Steff Cras
- 143 Fabien Doubey
- 144 Jordan Jegat
- 145 Alan Jousseaume
- 146 Fabien Grellier
- 147 Alexis Vuillermoz
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
- 151 Warren Barguil
- 152 Romain Combaud
- 153 Gijs Leemreize
- 154 Enzo Leijnse
- 155 Oscar Onley
- 156 Martijn Tusveld
- 157 Emils Liepins
Ineos Grenadiers
- 161 Carlos Rodriguez
- 162 Jonathan Castroviejo
- 163 Omar Fraile
- 164 Ethan Hayter
- 165 Michal Kwiatkowski
- 166 Thomas Pidcock
- 167 Brandon Smith Rivera
Euskaltel-Euskadi
- 171 Gotzon Martin
- 172 Ijer Mintegi
- 173 Victor de la Parte
- 174 Xabier Berasategi
- 175 Txomin Juaristi
- 176 James Fouche
- 177 Enekoitz Azparren
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
- 181 Felix Gall
- 182 Bruno Armirail
- 183 Alex Baudin
- 184 Jaakko Hänninen
- 185 Valentin Retailleau
- 186 Paul Lapeira
- 187 Nans Peters
Equipo Kern Pharma
- 191 Unai Iribar
- 192 Pablo Castrillo
- 193 Ivan Cobo
- 194 Jon Agirre
- 195 Mikel Retegi
- 196 Pau Miquel
- 197 Ibon Ruiz
Alpecin-Deceuninck
- 201 Nicola Conci
- 202 Quinten Hermans
- 203 Jimmy Janssens
- 204 Juri Hollmann
- 205 Jason Osborne
- 206 Stan van Tricht
- 207 Luca Vergallito
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
- 211 Orluis Aular
- 212 Sebastian Berwick
- 213 Joseba Lopez
- 214 Joel Nicolau
- 215 Eduard Prades
- 216 Guillermo Thomas Silva
- 217 Gorka Sorrain
Burgos bra
- 221 Jose Manuel Diaz
- 222 Victor Langellotti
- 223 Karel Vacek
- 224 Jesus Ezquerra
- 225 Aaron Gate
- 226 Antoni Fagundez
- 227 Jetse Bol
Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team
- 231 Mikel Azparren
- 232 Matteo Badilatti
- 233 Filippo Conca
- 234 David de la Cruz
- 235 Mark Donovan
- 236 Carl Frederik Hagen
- 237 Damien Howson
