The 2023 Tour de France will start in the Basque Country, an autonomous region of cycling madness in northern Spain.

Race organizer ASO confirmed the site of the Grande Pearl at a special presentation event at the magnificent Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao on Wednesday.

The 2022 Tour de France will start in July in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Bilbao has invested heavily in culture, tourism, and sports in recent years and will be the center of the 2023 Grande Pearl.

The first stage will leave Bilbao on Saturday, July 1, 2023, and will include two stages through the Basque Country before heading to France. The first 185 km road stage will visit the hilly coastline of the Bay of Biscay before returning to Bilbao to climb the steep slopes of Pike Bidea and finish in the city center.

The second stage is 210 km from Vitoria Gasteiz to Donastia San Sebastián.

The third stage starts in Amorebieta-Ecchano and runs 80 km along the Basque coastline with a finish in France to be revealed later in the The aim is to.

The last time the Tour de France visited the Basque Country was in 2018, in a time trial on the French side of the Pyrenees.

The Tour de France first visited the Basque Country in 1949, when Louis Caputo won a stage to San Sebastián; the race was revived in 1977 when Jose Nazaba won in Vitoria.

In 1992, San Sebastián started the Tour with a prologue time trial and a road stage, and the race headed to Pau, France on day three. Miguel Indurain won the opening prologue wearing the yellow jersey after winning the 1991 Tour de France.

Basque cycling fans traditionally wear orange T-shirts and wave Ikrina flags as they watch the Tour de France mountain stages in the Pyrenees.

"Cycling is a long-standing Basque tradition. Our goal is to host the perfect Grande Pearl and make our land an even more attractive destination. Inigo Urcul Renteria, President of the Basque Government, said, "Our enthusiasm and commitment are purposeful as we welcome the 110th edition of the Tour de France.

"July 2023 will be a momentous occasion for the Basque Country. On the roads of the Tour de France, Basque supporters are known for their festivities. A colorful Basque current that will infuse the legendary mountains with jubilation will sweep the Basque climbs, beaches, towns and villages."

"The Basque people will be celebrating the Tour de France with the Basque people."

"The Basque people will be celebrating the Tour de France.

The Basque government will spend 12 million euros on the Grande Pearl project, with an estimated 6 million euros going to the ASO.

The Grande Pearl became a grand wish. Ever since the Tour de France was held in San Sebastián in the summer of 1992, the Basque authorities and elected representatives have longed to bring the Grand Boucle back," said race director Christian Prudhomme.

"This passion, coupled with what the region brings, could not be ignored. And this ardent courtship deserved another taste of the three days of Grande Pearl that had been such a long wait. We can return to this hospitable land that has continued to dispatch its passionate orange army to the Pyrenees and far beyond, and has kept the morale of its athletes high with its roadside ikulina. Located between the sky and the sea, the states of Biscay, Arava, and Gipuzkoa are fertile ground for spectacular cycling.