IThe Itzulia 2024 (April 1-6) is announced as a luxury round. The Basque race, which will take place in Irun in the next spring edition, aims to be a preview of the battle of the Tour, a feature that has already occurred on other occasions. The calendars of those who will be protagonists of the gala round reserve space for an Itzulia that in 2021 on its final podium brought together Roglig, Vingegaard and Pogacar and that in The last edition, in 2023, had Vingegaard, who later repeated in the Tour, as absolute leader.
IThe Basque race so far has only confirmed what the route of the first stage will be, which will return to the time trial format. with an urban layout of more than 10 kilometers. Starting with the second, which will also take place in Gipuzcoan territory, Itzulia will include the usual succession of ports and more than one reference climb, due to its spectacularity and percentage.
Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) has an excellent memory of a race in which last year he was a great dominator and in 2021 he finished in second place behind Roglic, then your teammate. The Slovenian will play at Bora-Hansgrohe this season and on these dates finalizes a calendar in which Itzulia is not lost sight of: the picture fits perfectly with some course objectives that include Liège-Bastoa-Liège, just two weeks after completing the trip to the Basque.
Pogácar (United Arab Emirates) He has not yet created a calendar in which it is not ruled out that he could return to an Itzulia in which he was third in 2021. The Slovenian you will have to decide between participating in a demanding race in terms of route and rivals or maintaining the fight for the chain of classics this will happen once Itzulia is completed.
At the Irun starting line The presence of Pello Bilbao is also expectedwho had to withdraw last year due to a respiratory infection, Ion Izagirre, a regular presence on the last podiums, and Mikel Landa, who came second in 2023 and is now starting his new team.
last podiums of Itzulia
- 2023: 1 Vingegaard, 2 Landa, 3 Ion Izagirre
- 2022: 1 Daniel Felipe Martnez, 2 Ion Izagirre, 3 Vlasov
- 2021: 1 Roglic, 2Vingegaard, 3 Pogacar
