Lucy, eight years old, visited La Concha with her parents and siblings last Sunday in Saint Sebastian. The weather was chilly and rainy, a sharp contrast to the warmth she remembered from her own city. The girl was drawn to the bright yellow decorations and the posters everywhere, and she asked aloud, “What is the Tour de France?”
After a three-day sprint through Bilbao, where testing kicks off this Saturday, the race that will bring San Sebastián to a standstill next Sunday opens a new chapter with the grandeur of being the world’s premier cycling showcase. It is a sporting duel between two cycling legends, Jonas Vingegaard, the defending champion, and the Slovenian prodigy Tadej Pogacar, who aspires to claim a third victory in Paris.
Tour de France 2023 Guide: route, stages, profiles, favourites, schedules and TV
In Bilbao, the tour’s first stop, yellow signs and storefronts tied to the color abound, with occasional athletic banners unfurling from balconies. With football on a temporary pause, the Tour de France presses on, leaving the Basque Country for the second time since 1992, when San Sebastián hosted a celebrated finish. The prologue becomes the talk of Biscay, as it does for Álava and finally for San Sebastian, already imagining the race that will dazzle thousands of children like Lucy. The city sparkles to welcome the thousands who will line the streets and celebrate the event.
Double shift for dinner
Not everyone is pleased. Taxi drivers protest, a familiar scene as the city closes to traffic on Saturday. The hotel industry welcomes Bilbao City Council’s decision to extend customer service by two hours from Thursday through Saturday, ensuring guests have ample dining options in the bustling period. The mounting demand meets a tense balance, with the hospitality sector negotiating extra shifts to keep visitors satisfied while the event unfolds.
Meanwhile, the hospitality surge has driven nightly rates upward, and securing a room remains challenging. In recent days, four-star hotels have seen nightly prices soar, while some teams temporarily stayed in nearby cities for mobility and training opportunities rather than purely economic reasons.
San Mamés’ clock
Beside the stadium gates, a clock ticks down the days and hours to the start of the Tour, a countdown that has been visible for months. The mayor recently led a bike tour to promote the French event, while the Guggenheim Museum stands as a landmark ready to welcome teams. The opening ceremonies include a salute to Basque cycling legends and a parade featuring 176 riders from 22 teams, with tens of thousands expected to pack the streets when traffic halts to let the spectacle pass.
Tour broadcasts and social chatter have become part of the spectacle as well, with local posts and city updates signaling the scale of the event. The bus fleets and citywide promotions generate a palpable buzz, as residents and visitors anticipate the road closures and the grand spectacle that unfolds along the route between Amorebieta and Bayonne, a Basque landscape enriched by local pride.
Newspaper front pages in Biscay, including major regional outlets, capture the fever as dozens of murals and public displays celebrate the riders. Local authorities distribute ikurriña flags to welcome the cyclists, while kids in the region, including those like Lucy, find it hard to resist dreaming about the Tour as days pass in the lead-up to the race. This is a moment when sport, culture, and community converge in a shared celebration.
In Donostia and nearby towns, residents watch the city transform into a hub of activity, with public art, banners, and countless conversations about the routes, profiles, and the stars who will compete for the podium. The Tour de France is more than a race; it is a moving festival that stitches together city life, tourist energy, and a deep-seated love for cycling across northern Spain and the Basque Country.
Lucy’s question about the Tour seems to echo through the community, a reminder that sport can carry wonder from childlike curiosity to daylong devotion. As the event unfolds, spectators from across North America and beyond tune in, eager to see how the race’s drama plays out on the open road, and how the Basque towns respond with welcome and pride.
– End of updated summary of the 2023 Tour de France coverage. Attribution: This summary reflects contemporary reporting and local coverage from the period of the event, compiled for accessible public understanding of the race’s progression and regional impact.