The customs of cycling indicate that in an initial time trial the hopefuls for victory must come out last.

There is some convention in this, but also strategy, because at the last minute there are already many references of specialists against the clock and it is easier to measure if the performance that is being offered on the asphalt is good or not.

Primoz Roglic

, on the other hand, decides to get up early.

Well, it's a saying, because it leaves after two in the afternoon.

The relevant thing is that it is the tenth to start of all the participants, about three hours before the expected arrival of the last of them, which is

Tadej Pogacar

, his nemesis since the time trial at La Planche des Belles Filles of the last Tour, in which the youngster toppled the veteran with a display rarely seen in the history of the French round.

Roglic knows that he will not have references, but he does not care.

Perhaps, pushed by the weather forecast.

The day was going to be sunny in Bilbao, not very hot either, but without a drop of water.

The difference was going to be made by the wind, softer at noon, stronger as the afternoon approached.

And it was not a negligible factor in the route presented by Itzulia, since both in the Artxanda plain and along the Nervión estuary the wind is uncomfortable when it blows.

The Slovenian from the Jumbo-Visma bets and succeeds.

Although I have to wait three hours for Pogacar to arrive to find out if he is the first leader of the Tour of the Basque Country or not.

The UAE runner was not only going to be unable to improve the 17 minutes and 17 seconds marked by his compatriot, but he also gave in to two of Roglic's gregarious (

Vingegaard

and

Foss

) and to a specialist like

McNulty

and placed 28 seconds off the yellow jersey.

"Maybe I haven't been able to regulate myself well"

Now, did the wind play a role or is it just literature to fill in a chronicle?

"The second part of the route has been very long, because it was very windy in the river area. Perhaps I have not known how to regulate myself well," confessed Pogacar after reaching the finish line of Etxebarria Park, which was accessed by a ramp that reached a small section at 19% slope, on his first day of competition of the season against Roglic.

He did it with the mountain jersey, distributed according to the times set in Santo Domingo, the ascent of 2.5 kilometers from the Basilica of Begoña with which the 14 time trial started.

In other words, Pogacar was the best up to that point and then he lost the rope to Roglic.

"It was a fairly tough time, the usual in the Basque Country," commented the new leader, about a race he is running for the third time.

The first, in 2017, that of its explosion, was fifth and a year later it took the final victory.

Among the rest of the favorites for the victory in this edition, the best was

Adam Yates

, who has just won the Volta, setting the same time as Pogacar, 28 seconds behind Roglic.

The best Spaniards were

Aranburu

(at 30),

Bilbao

(at 37),

Fraile

(at 40),

Valverde

(at 43) and

Landa

(at 49).

Ion Izagirre

, defender of the title,

had the worst day

after achieving victory in 2019 (Itzulia was not played in 2020) and who gave 1:09 despite his usual reliability against the clock.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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