The 2010 Tour of the Basque Country, was the 50th edition of the Tour of the Basque Country cycling stage race. It started on 5 April and ended on 10 April. Chris Horner won the race 7 seconds ahead of Alejandro Valverde after winning the sixth and final stage which was an individual time trial 8 seconds ahead of Valverde. Valverde's results were subsequently removed after a retroactive suspension was applied.[1]
5 April 2010 – Zierbena to Zierbena, 152 km (94 mi)
Alejandro Valverde was awarded the opening stage after Óscar Freire, who crossed the line first, was disqualified for interfering with him in the sprint. After the subsequent removal of Valverde's results, Freire was reinstated as stage winner.[5]
Pre-race favourite, Samuel Sánchez missed a decisive split in the peloton and finished 1:38 behind the peloton, making a victory for him seem very unlikely.[6]
After missing a decisive split that put him over 1:30 behind the race leader, it was the Olympic ChampionSamuel Sánchez who won the hilliest stage of this year's tour.
Samuel Sánchez caught Chris Horner at the top of the Alto de Usartza climb and then dived down the short descent to the finish to win by two seconds. Alejandro Valverde and Robert Gesink also caught Chris Horner who barely managed to stay with them.
The victory put Alejandro Valverde only one second ahead of Chris Horner and Robert Gesink respectively. The overall favourites knew they had to wait for the Alto de Usartza, that ended just two kilometres from the finish.
A large attack group including mountains classification leader Amets Txurruka spent much of the day ahead of the peloton. On the penultimate climb Txurruka attacked solo, but crashed on the descent towards the final climb. He was able to complete the stage, but broke his collarbone in the incident and had to drop out before the final time trial.
Robert Gesink who was in 3rd place after the previous stage, is now in 8th place after experiencing a crash on the final climb. His team (Rabobank) reported that he may have broken a bone in his hand.
Joaquim Rodríguez had attacked out of the chasing peloton with about 20 km to go, passing the remnants of an earlier escape group. He had come into the stage 48 seconds down on the general ranking, dangerous enough for Valverde, Horner and Sánchez to give chase.
Joaquim Rodríguez was happy with the result and the ITT is different than normal because it has a hilly finish. His dream is to take the GC.[8]
^"The CAS imposes a two-year ban on Alejandro Valverde". CAS. 2009-05-31. Archived from the original on 2010-06-05. Retrieved 2009-05-31.
^Etib (2010-03-17). "Alberto Contador won't compete in Tour of the Basque Country". Etib. Etib. Archived from the original on 2011-07-28. Retrieved 2010-03-30.
^Etib (2010-03-29). "Valverde and Schleck leading figures in Tour of the Basque Country". Etib. Etib. Retrieved 2010-03-31.
^Universal Sports (2010-03-29). "Tour of the Basque Country – Start list". Universal Sports. Universal Sports. Archived from the original on 5 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-01.
^UCI Rankings (2010-04-05). "Results Men Elite Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco (ESP) Stage 1: Zierbena – Zierbena". UCI. Archived from the original on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2010-05-31.
^Cycling News (2010-04-05). "Valverde wins opening stage after Freire is relegated". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 8 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-05.
^Cycling News (2010-04-08). "Sanchez wins hilly stage in Pais Vasco". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 10 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-08.
^Cycling News (2010-04-09). "Rodriguez solos in for Katusha". Cycling News. Future Publishing Limited. Archived from the original on 12 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-09.
Chris Horner (USA) 
Beñat Intxausti (ESP)
Jean-Christophe Péraud (FRA)
Marco Pinotti (ITA)
Robert Gesink (NED)
Dries Devenyns (BEL)
Ryder Hesjedal (CAN)
Michael Albasini (SUI)
Jakob Fuglsang (DEN)
Johannes Fröhlinger (GER)
Michael Rogers (AUS)
Serguei Klimov (RUS)
Dmitriy Fofonov (KAZ)