Vuelta Ciclista al País Vasco (ESP) - 09-14.04.2007

The Pais Vasco comes between other prestigious one-day races in the UCI ProTour calendar but it is always a special race and attracts a high-quality field because of the passion of the Basque cycling fans. They line the roads wearing orange clothing and cheer on both their local riders and the international stars who always ride. In 2005 Italy’s Danilo Di Luca won Pais Vasco before going to dominate the Ardennes classics and the individual classification of the inaugural UCI ProTour. In 2006 Alejandro Valverde used the race to find his best form before winning in Belgium and setting up victory in the UCI ProTour. The 2007 Vuelta al Pais Vasco will begin in the town of Urretxu on Easter Monday and as always will offer a finely balanced route with a key time trial and several hilly stages in the Basque countryside sure to produce some great racing. 2006 stage winners Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d’Epargne) and Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel), plus overall winner Jose Angel Marchante (Saunier Duval) have all said the Vuelta al Pais Vasco is one of the big objectives in 2007, while Danilo Di Luca (Liquigas), Davide Rebellin (Gerolsteiner) and many others will also be at the start on April 9 for a week of important racing.