Tour of the Basque Country 2024: Roglic gets lost - but still celebrates his first victory in the Bora jersey

The Tour of the Basque Country 2024 got off to an eventful start in its 63rd edition with a time trial. Although Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) missed the last corner of the ten-kilometre-long battle against the clock and used the breakaway for the support vehicles, the Slovenian still secured victory ahead of Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) and Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek).

Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) finished fourth. The time trial world champion from Belgium also had a mishap, crashing on the second corner of the race and finishing eleven seconds behind. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike), the top favourite in the Basque Country, finished without incident in fifth place, 15 seconds behind.

>> All stages of the Tour of the Basque Country 2024 & the start list

Start of the 2024 Tour of the Basque Country sees a relieved Roglic

It was Roglic's first victory in the Bora-Hansgrohe jersey. And after his less fortunate start at Paris-Nice It came as something of a surprise, especially considering the formidable competition from Evenepoel and Vingegaard. The Dane in particular had made short work of everything in his appearances so far this season, although he did not finish the individual time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico over the same distance, but on a flat course.

Roglic was able to take his mishap with humour in the end, the relief was clear to see after the victory, in which he gave away around ten seconds. "I probably did too many course inspections, I kept going straight up," joked the 34-year-old on the Eurosport microphone. "The legs were good, I felt very strong. It's a great start to the week," which he now approaches as the overall leader and wearer of the points and mountains jersey with a few seconds advantage over the competition.

Vingegaard satisfied, Evenepoel self-critical

However, his rivals were also unwilling to demonise the start. While Vingegaard was "happy with what [I] did", Evenepoel blamed himself. "It was my mistake. I leaned too much into the corner in the slippery part of the track in the city," said the Belgian, describing his accident. "It was a bit too much of a risk. I had hoped that I could go into the next few days with a small lead. Now it's a small gap. Hopefully the bad luck will be over for us in the next few days."

Things also went badly for Team Ineos Grenadiers. Firstly, Tom Pidcock had to abandon the race before it had even started for him. The Brit crashed during the course inspection and was subsequently unable to start the time trial. Ethan Hayter, on the other hand, was only one second behind Roglic at the intermediate time, but got caught in a rain shower in the second part and lost a lot of time as a result. Hayter was one of the last to start - the top favourites all started early due to the weather forecast.

The top 10 of stage 1 of the 2024 Tour of the Basque Country

1. Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) 0:12:34
2. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) +0:07
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +0:10
4. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:11
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:15
6. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +0:16
7. Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +0:16
8. Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:16
9. Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:19
10. Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) +0:21

The current overall standings

1. Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) 0:12:34
2. Jay Vine (UAE Team Emirates) +0:07
3. Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) +0:10
4. Remco Evenepoel (Soudal - Quick Step) +0:11
5. Jonas Vingegaard (Visma | Lease a Bike) +0:15
6. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +0:16
7. Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +0:16
8. Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:16
9. Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:19
10. Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) +0:21

This is how the 1st stage of the 2024 Tour of the Basque Country went

Damian Howson (Q36.5 Pro Cycling) set the first time on the technically challenging circuit in the Basque town of Irun, right on the border with France, with a time of 13:33 minutes. Shortly after the start, the ten-kilometre course featured a cobblestone section with a gradient of up to ten per cent and another equally steep climb in the finale, as well as a 3rd category climb in the middle section, with a total of 180 metres of climbing.

However, Howson's average of 44.3 km/h did not last, as the weather forecasts meant that the favourites all started quite early. This proved to be the right decision, as the last riders had to contend with rain on the course after a long period of sunshine. Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) was the 14th to start the race. The Spaniard had won the time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico and set a new record of 12:40 minutes.

Top favourites close together

But that didn't last long either, as Roglic started the race just seven riders later. The Slovenian flew over the course and could even afford to continue straight up the mountain to the team car turn-off instead of taking the left-hand bend to the finish. But he was quickly made aware of his mistake. He turned round and still managed to save 16 seconds on Ayuso.

This time was to be a real challenge for all competitors. Vingegaard, who started two riders after Roglic, also missed the mark by 15 seconds. Subsequently, only Skjelmose was able to come close to the mark again, but the Dane was ultimately also ten seconds short.

Time trial world champion Evenepoel quickly ruined his chances of winning the day. The Belgian started the race somewhat over-motivated and crashed in the second bend after around 200 metres because he had leaned his bike too far inwards. At the finish he was eleven seconds down on the eventual winner.

Hayter with top time slowed down by rain

Only Vine was left at the front. The Australian started the race in 86th place. After a five-second gap at the intermediate time, only two more were added by the finish. As one of the few late starters, Schachmann also delivered a good time, 16 seconds behind Roglic.

Ineos pro Hayter, on the other hand, was even on course to knock Roglic off the throne for a long time. Only 16 riders started the race after the Briton. He was only one second off the lead at the intermediate time, but the 25-year-old was caught in a rain shower in the final part of the course, which cost him all chances of victory. Ultimately 19 seconds behind Roglic, he was only able to finish in the top 10.