Maximilian Schachmann is the first yellow carrier of this year’s Basque Country Tour. The German cyclist won the opening time trial, Florian Lipowitz was not even a second slower.
The 31-year-old from the Soudal Quick-Step team covered the 16.5 kilometers on predominantly flat terrain by Vitoria-Gastez in 18:37 minutes and was therefore only faster than the Portuguese Joao Almeida (+0.54 seconds) and the German shooting star Lipowitz from the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe (+0,76) team).
“The Basque Country seems to be a good place for me. I got a large part of my victories here”Said Schachmann, who was able to win three stages of the tour in 2019. “It feels great to drive back in the leadership.”
Tour this year without huge mountains
Schachmann thus goes as the leader of the overall classification in the yellow jersey to the second stage on Tuesday from Pamplona-Iruna over 199.6 km to Lodosa. Although the very big mountains are missing, the Basque Country trip is a real challenge due to numerous, sometimes very steep climbs. However, the top stars are missing in the field, since they are mostly with the classics in Belgium and northern France.