Tour of the Basque Country 2009
Live Dashboard

Vuelta al Pais Vasco 2009 Live Video, Route, Stages,
Teams, TV Schedule, Results and Photos

The peloton climbs through Eibar during the 2008 Euskal-Bizikleta which has now combined forces with the Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco for 2009. Eibar will host the stage 3 finish and stage 4 start this year.
photo courtesy of Euskal-Bizikleta

Monday, April 6th

142 km

Ataun → Ataun

Tuesday, April 7th

169 km

Ataun → Villatuerta

Wednesday, April 8th

163 km

Villatuerta → Éibar

Thursday, April 9th

152 km

Éibar → Güeñes

Friday, April 10th

162 km

Güeñes→ Zalla

Saturday, April 11th

24 km

Zalla → Zalla

Total Distance

812 km

2009 Vuelta al País Vasco Teams

Team Rosters and ~~Withdrawals~~

News and Updates for Vuelta al País Vasco 2009

Race Preview

País Vasco: The Astana show continues — cyclingnews

10 riders to watch at the Tour of the Basque Country — universalsports

Upcoming: Vuelta Pais Vasco, April 6-11 — europeloton

En Directo: Live Video Streaming and TV Coverage

April 3 update: The start of your live coverage options for Tour of the Basque Country this Monday. Feel free to send in additional sources for live video or tv coverage as they become known. — Steve

Start Time: Monday 1:42 PM CET ();
Earliest live video: 4:00 PM CET ();
See all the live video, audio and text options
Approximate Finish: 5:15 PM CET ()

Team rosters with bib numbers
Current Time, Weather and Wind Direction in Ataun, Spain

media source	tv or internet	comments/restrictions
	live video streaming tv schedule (see comments)	Live streaming video every day starting at 10 AM ET (90 min); Delayed broadcast on the Universal Sports TV Channel at 12 PM ET (90 min); english commentary; North America only
	live video streaming	ETB Sat has been a source of live video in past years for this event
	live video streaming tv schedule	France and Europe satellites
	live text updates	Official text updates in Spanish and ticker (Google English Translation)
	steephill text updates #basque twitter group	short text updates from any and everyone
check back at race time for more and updated links; send a comment or a new live link

Provisional/Official Rosters now up

March 30 update: Official rosters with bib numbers and country sort option are now up (see right). Considering this event runs inbetween Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, the provisional rosters are very impressive.
Two ways to view the startlist:

March 27 update: The official route presentation:

Presentada la nueva Vuelta Al País Vasco — biciciclismo

March 22 update: All stage profiles and timetables are now posted. See the race summary table (right). (Thanks Colin Flockton)

Feburary 7 update: The Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco is a cycling stage race held in the Basque Country, a cultural region shared between France and Spain, at the same time the classics are happening in northern Europe, giving riders (mainly climbers) an alternative to the cobbles and cold weather.

Known as the Tour of the Basque Country in English and Euskal Herriko Txirrindulari Itzulia in Basque, the six-day race was first held in 1935, while the modern version of the race took place for the first time in 1969. The race is now organised by the leading Basque newspaper Diario Vasco (official site) which holds a UCI ProTour licence through to 2012. This year's event runs from Monday, April 6th through Saturday, April 11th.

In 2008, Spain's Alberto Contador (Astana) pulled off a wire-to-wire victory at the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco. He took the first stage to Legazpi and then wrapped it up, in style, with a surprise 20 km TT win around Orio on the final day.

The route of the Vuelta Pais Vasco 2009 will again highlight the picturesque, hilly/mountainous Basque countryside and the coastal region. Stages are planned for Ataun, Villatuerta, Guenes, Vitoria-Gasteiz and Zalla.

Beijing Olympic gold medalist Samuel Sanchez and his local Basque Eusklatel team have the Vuelta al Pais Vasco placed on their list of major objectives for 2009. Last year's Tour de France champion, Carlos Sastre will also ride it for the new Cervelo Test Team and Alberto Contador has announced he will return to defend his title.

Thanks to steephill.tv European photo contributor, Colin Flockton, for submitting the route map for this year's event. He points out that the other Basque Country stage race, Euskal-Bizikleta, has merged with The Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco for 2009. — Steve and uci.ch

steephill is now on Twitter with the latest race updates

Check back for teams, team rosters, stage maps and profiles, worldwide tv schedules and live internet video as the race draws closer.
(Contador and Sanchez photos © steephill.tv/sirotti)

Alberto Contador surprised a lot of people at last year's Vuelta al País Vasco by winning the final day TT sealing up his wire-to-wire overall win.

The Official 2009 Route Map (mapa de la ruta/pista y etapas):

Tour of the Basque Country 2009Live Dashboard

Vuelta al Pais Vasco 2009 Live Video, Route, Stages,Teams, TV Schedule, Results and Photos