Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard leads the Tour de France out of the Basque port of Bilbao on Saturday on a 21-day adventure crammed with peaks, postcard panoramas and an eye-catching showdown on a massive dormant volcano on the 3,404km route to Paris.
The 30 mountains on the route lend Vingegaard of Jumbo-Visma an edge over two-time champion Tadej Pogacar backed by a reinforced Team UAE squad.
Pogacar won the Slovenian national championship on Sunday and said it was a good test of his legs ahead of the Tour. The opener, around the Bilbao back-country, is laced with terrain to tempt the one-day mavericks to go for glory with Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe one to watch. The vineyards of Bordeaux, on stage seven, serve as an aperitif to the star landmark of this Tour, the magnificent dormant volcano at Puy de Dome.
Gone is the day-20 individual time trial that made recent finales something of a lottery. Instead, the last stage before Paris offers another five mountains and no let up for the leader.Rising star Biniam Girmay is fully capable of becoming the first black African to win a stage on this 110th edition.
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