Roglic lashes out in the opening time trial of the Tour of the Basque Country, with a fall that has a devastating impact on Evenepoel

Primoz Roglic can call himself the big winner of the opening time trial of the Tour of the Basque Country. The Slovenian from BORA-hansgrohe drove wrongly just before the finish, but still managed to set the top time at the finish. Co-favorite Remco Evenepoel probably saw his chances of winning a stage go up in smoke due to a crash.

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Cycling enthusiasts suffering from a Tour of Flanders hangover were able to turn on the TV again today for another prestigious cycling race. The Tour of the Basque Country started today in northern Spain, in the cycling-crazy region of the Basque Country. This year, this multi-day race is all about an initial showdown between three (Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and Primoz Roglic) of the four favorites for next summer’s Tour de France.

Bilbao and Ayuso with first target times
On day one, these top athletes competed against each other in a short individual time trial of ten kilometers in and around Irun. Which of these three favorites dealt the first blow to its competitors? The favorites for the stage and overall victory started relatively early, even before the start of the television broadcast. And so we had to do it mainly with price information, and less with moving images. Tom Pidcock was unable to start due to a fall in the reconnaissance.

The first real target time was set by a home rider. Pello Bilbao, the co-leader of Bahrain Victorious, was the first rider to dip under thirteen minutes. However, his final time of 12:59 was quickly knocked off the tables by a fellow countryman. Juan Ayuso – winner of the opening time trial of Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this year – dipped another nine seconds (12:50) under Bilbao’s time.

Roglic sets up gun time, Evenepoel falls
However, Ayuso’s possible profit ambitions were quickly nipped in the bud by Primoz Roglic. The leader of BORA-hansgrohe – already the overall winner of the Tour of the Basque Country in 2018 and 2021 – flew around the course like a man possessed. The Slovenian drove wrongly just before his arrival, but this did not prevent him from achieving the fastest time at the finish. With a time of 12:34, he was no less than sixteen seconds faster than Ayuso.

It didn’t take long for the two other big favorites for the day and overall victory, Vingegaard and Evenepoel, to arrive. The defending champion already gave up quite a bit of time at the intermediate point and was fifteen seconds slower than his former teammate at the finish. And Evenepoel? He immediately lost a lot of time due to a crash in the initial phase of his time trial, but managed to limit the damage to the line (+11 seconds).

The battle for stage victory is over
After the arrival of Roglic, Evenepoel and Vingegaard, the battle for stage victory seemed to be over, although recognized time trial specialists still took action. Kévin Vauquelin, for example. The young Frenchman from Arkéa-B&B Hotels even managed to achieve the second fastest time at the intermediate point, eight seconds behind Roglic, but had to settle for sixth place at the finish. Jay Vine did even better with a second place, but still stranded five seconds behind the Slovenian.

It also turned out to be the last real top time at the finish. On the one hand, this had to do with the fact that the real time trial specialists had already arrived, but on the other hand, because the course had become very slippery at some points due to the rain. This prevented the last starters from going all out, although Ethan Hayter seemed to provide a surprise. The Briton was only one second slower than Roglic at the intermediate point on the climb, but was unable to push hard in the final kilometers and had to settle for ninth place.

The last riders certainly did not come close to Roglic’s time, who was able to add a new victory to his already impressive list of achievements. Vine, Skjelmose, Evenepoel and Vingegaard complete the top 5.