diff --git a/.pre-commit-config.yaml b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
index 0d694fdd8..d153df00d 100644
--- a/.pre-commit-config.yaml
+++ b/.pre-commit-config.yaml
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ repos:
       - id: pyupgrade
         files: "^(tests/demo_pkg_inline/build.py)$"
   - repo: https://github.com/PyCQA/isort
-    rev: v5.11.3
+    rev: 5.11.4
     hooks:
       - id: isort
   - repo: https://github.com/psf/black
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ repos:
         name: changelog filenames
         language: fail
         entry: "changelog files must be named ####.(feature|bugfix|doc|removal|misc).rst"
-        exclude: ^docs/changelog/(\d+\.(feature|bugfix|doc|removal|misc).rst|README.rst|template.jinja2)
+        exclude: ^docs/changelog/(\d+\.(feature|bugfix|doc|removal|misc).rst|template.jinja2)
         files: ^docs/changelog/
   - repo: meta
     hooks:
diff --git a/docs/changelog/2773.bugfix.rst b/docs/changelog/2773.bugfix.rst
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..e5bd6d498
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/changelog/2773.bugfix.rst
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Strip leading and trailing whitespace when parsing elements in requirement files - by :user:`gaborbernat`.
diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 1d966aa16..a3f37aa50 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ optional-dependencies.docs = [
   "sphinx-copybutton>=0.5.1",
   "sphinx-inline-tabs>=2022.1.2b11",
   "sphinxcontrib-towncrier>=0.2.1a0",
-  "towncrier>=22.8",
+  "towncrier>=22.12",
 ]
 optional-dependencies.testing = [
   "build[virtualenv]>=0.9",
diff --git a/src/tox/tox_env/python/pip/req/file.py b/src/tox/tox_env/python/pip/req/file.py
index a37e24cce..d8b295589 100644
--- a/src/tox/tox_env/python/pip/req/file.py
+++ b/src/tox/tox_env/python/pip/req/file.py
@@ -361,7 +361,7 @@ def _break_args_options(line: str) -> tuple[str, str]:
             else:
                 args.append(token)
                 options.pop(0)
-        return " ".join(args), " ".join(options)
+        return " ".join(args).strip(), " ".join(options)
 
     @staticmethod
     def _join_lines(lines_enum: ReqFileLines) -> ReqFileLines:
diff --git a/tests/tox_env/python/pip/req/test_file.py b/tests/tox_env/python/pip/req/test_file.py
index a24394d77..9e4e51a2c 100644
--- a/tests/tox_env/python/pip/req/test_file.py
+++ b/tests/tox_env/python/pip/req/test_file.py
@@ -272,6 +272,13 @@
         ["attrs"],
         id="sha512 hash is supported",
     ),
+    pytest.param(
+        "\tp @ https://github.com/a/b/c/d.zip ",
+        {},
+        ["p@ https://github.com/a/b/c/d.zip"],
+        ["p@ https://github.com/a/b/c/d.zip"],
+        id="whitespace around",
+    ),
 ]
 
 
diff --git a/tox.ini b/tox.ini
index 24b5fa32c..a534bedaf 100644
--- a/tox.ini
+++ b/tox.ini
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ passenv =
     PROGRAMDATA
 skip_install = true
 deps =
-    pre-commit>=2.20
+    pre-commit>=2.21
 commands =
     pre-commit run --all-files --show-diff-on-failure {posargs}
     python -c 'print(r"hint: run {envbindir}{/}pre-commit install to add checks as pre-commit hook")'
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ skip_install = true
 deps =
     gitpython>=3.1.29
     packaging>=22
-    towncrier>=22.8
+    towncrier>=22.12
 commands =
     python {toxinidir}/tasks/release.py --version {posargs}