Stage 1 | Saturday, 1 July | Bilbao - Bilbao | 182 kilometres
Rolf Aldag's assessment: The favourites are challenged
The Basque Country is known for its challenging topography and deep-rooted cycling enthusiasm. It's a shame that there is no longer a Basque team, because I'll never forget the impression of the crowd bathed in orange with their frenetic support for their own boys.
Incidentally, my first Tour started in the Basque Country, in 1992 in San Sebastian. That was a negative experience, because I had a stomach bug right on time for the prologue and dragged myself through the Tour until stage eight. Hopefully no rider will feel the same this time, because the first stage is a tough one. The elevation profile is reminiscent of a stage of the very demanding Tour of the Basque Country, but on different roads. Unlike in the spring, there are no narrow side roads, which makes it more bearable for the riders. However, there are many climbs - which in turn become more demanding towards the finale, right up to the uphill finish.
Who will control the peloton today? That's hard to predict and has an impact on potential breakaway groups. The finale with the up to 15.6 per cent steep pike reminds me of the Mur-de-Bretagne, where Mathieu van der Poel rode in yellow in 2021. Like Tom Pidcock, he will be aiming for the maillot jaune today - with the Tour's top favourites barely staying under cover.
Schedule, TV coverage & live stream of stage 1 of the 2023 Tour de France
- Neutral start: 12:30 pm, sharp start 12:55 pm
- Estimated arrival time: between 17:15 and 17:52
- TV broadcast: ARD - 14:35 to 18:55, Eurosport - 12:30 to 17:30
- Live stream: ARD one, sportschau.de, GCN+, Discovery+, Eurosport
Our expert Rolf Aldag
As a professional cyclist, our expert Rolf Aldag rode the Tour de France ten times up to 2004; as manager and sporting director, he has led various top teams through France and will once again be in charge of the German team Bora-Hansgrohe as sporting director at the Tour de France this year. There are few people who can tell so vividly what can happen on the stages of a grand tour and within the peloton. For TOUR, the 54-year-old sports manager has once again scrutinised the elevation profiles and march tables of this year's Tour de France.
In his predictions, he names the teams and riders he sees at the front on each day, assesses the difficulties of the routes and says where he expects attacks and from whom. Will there be a bunch sprint? Will a breakaway group make it to the finish? Aldag also assesses for TOUR what role each stage plays for the classification jerseys: The more coloured jerseys our expert assigns to a stage, the greater their significance for the respective classification. The yellow jersey symbolises the weight of the stage in the overall classification, the green jersey stands for the importance of the best sprinter in the points classification and the red dotted jersey for the mountain classification, i.e. for the best climber. With these first-hand predictions, you can follow the TV broadcasts well informed and with profit!
