Valverde and Schleck leading figures in Tour of the Basque Country

Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d''Epargne), Andy Schleck (Team Saxo Bank), Damiano Cunego (Lampre-Farnese Vini), Andreas Klöden (Team Radioshack) and Samuel Sánchez (Euskatel - Euskadi) will be the main attractions in the 50th edition of the Tour of the Basque Country. They should make up for the absence of Tour de France and previous winner Alberto Contador.

Big names

Apart from the potential winners, also other famous cyclist will compete in the Tour of the Basque Country, including the 2010 Milan-Sanremo winner Oscar Freire (Rabobank), Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky), Robert Gesink (Rabobank), Vladimir Ekimov (AG2R-La Mondiale), Michael Rogers (Team HYC-Columbia), Joaquín Rodríguez (Team Katusha) and Sandy Casar (Française de Jeux).

Stages

The registered 20 teams will start on April 5th in Zierbena (Biscaya) to complete six stages in the Basque Country, covering a total distance of 888 kilometres.

In stage four (Murgia - Eibar), the cyclists will face their only two ''First category climbs'' with the Alto de Ixua (555 metres) and the Alto de Uzurtza (580 metres).

The last stage in the Tour of the Basque Country is an individual time trial of 22 kilometres in Orio, Guipuzcoa. It''s very likely that the race will be decided in the 6th and final stage.