Itzulia 2023 reveals the details of the route and the profiles of the stages

Euskaraz irakurri: 2023ko Itzuliko ibilbidearen eta etapen profilen nondik norakoak plazaratu dituzte

The organization of the race Itzulia Basque Country has made public this Wednesday the details of the itinerary of the race that will begin on April 3 in Vitoria-Gasteiz and that it will come to eibar he April 8.

The presentation was made in the plenary hall of the Town Hall of the city of Armera itself, a town that will host the arrival of the last stage and which has been named European City of Sport 2023.

As usual, the issue number 62 of the test will consist of six stages, none of them against the clock, so the number of kilometers covered is increased: a total of 992.5. Participants will have to overcome 26 ports, most of them in the 3rd category (16). There will be seven of the 2nd category, while those of the 1st category will only be three, although all of them will be concentrated in the last stage.

The first day will pass through Araba and will serve the participants to warm up their engines. The tour of 165.4 kilometers and a single rise (opakuaof the 2nd category) will transfer the peloton from Vitoria-Gasteiz until labastida. Those who seek to put on the first leader’s jersey will have to be alert to the possible appearance of the wind in the last kilometer, since it will tend upwards, with sections at 8% and 6%, which will make a possible sprint difficult.

The runners will travel through Navarre roads during the second day, which will unite Viana and Leitza. This will be the longest stage of this edition with 193.8 kilometers. The profile shows five peaks located almost all of them in the final part of the path. The last one will be Arkiskil, 2nd category. Once past this stop, a five kilometer descent will guide the cyclists to the finish line.

As for the third stage, it will begin and end in Gipuzkoasince it will start from errenteria to get to villabona (153.9 kilometers). As the previous day, the route will consist of five ports, all of them in the 3rd category, integrated into the last 100 kilometres. In any case, it will be in the last kilometer when the athletes come face to face with the most spectacular climb of the day, and that is that on the extremely hard ramps of Hika will find stretches up to 26% gradient.

Halfway through the race, the cyclists will go to Bizkaia with the intention of competing there for the next two stages. So, Santurtzi will star in the departure and arrival of the fourth day (175.7 kilometers), which will also visit Araba for a few kilometers with lodio, Amurrio and backed as witnesses. It will be a day with four ascents, being the most complicated of them The Asturian (2nd category). From its top to the finish line there will be 15 kilometers left, most of them downhill.

The penultimate stage will also have the same location as the starting and finishing point: Amorebieta-Etxano. The cyclists will cover 165.9 kilometers through rugged terrain with four stops, the last being belarrinaga (3rd). However, from the Mountain Prize banner to the finish there will still be 25 kilometers to go, so it may be a day more appropriate for adventurers than favorites, conducive to testing the directors’ strategies.

The last stage will be the shortest in Itzulia (137.8 kilometres), but also the hardest, despite the fact that it will not end in drag. The participants who reach the sixth day will have to face seven ports in the last and decisive stage that will begin and end in Eibar: the tops of elkorrieta (3rd), Azurki (1st), Gorla (2nd), krabelin (1st), trabakua (3rd), Izua (1st) and Urkaregi (3rd) will be the ones who act as judges to determine who will be the winner of the 62nd edition.

PROFILES OF THE STAGES OF ITZULIA 2023:

Stage 1 (April 3): Vitoria-Gasteiz – Labastida (165.4 kilometres)

Profile of stage 1 of Itzulia 2023. Photo: Itzulia

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Stage 2 (April 4): Viana – Leitza (193.8 kilometres)

Profile of stage 2 of Itzulia 2023. Photo: Itzulia

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Stage 3 (April 5): Errenteria – Villabona (153.8 kilometers)

Profile of stage 3 of Itzulia 2023. Photo: Itzulia

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Stage 4 (April 6): Santurtzi–Santurtzi (175.7 kilometres)

Profile of stage 4 of Itzulia 2023. Photo: Itzulia

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Stage 5 (April 7): Amorebieta-Etxano – Amorebieta-Etxano (165.9 kilometres)

Profile of stage 5 of Itzulia 2023. Photo: Itzulia

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Stage 6 (April 8): Eibar – Eibar (137.8 kilometres)

Profile of stage 6 of Itzulia 2023. Photo: Itzulia