The last stage of the Tour of the Basque Country was held over 135 km between Eibar and Arrate. There the mountain marked the differences and the greatest difficulty during the day, being even key for some runners, but detrimental to others who failed to withstand the pace of competition.
Remco Evenepoel of Quick Step Alpha Vinil and Colombian Daniel Felipe Martínez of Ineos Grenadiers, started as the main protagonists of the race given that the Belgian was the leader of the overall standings, while Martinez was 2nd in just 2 seconds.
At first, some cyclists wanted to leave to look for the mountain points from early on, while the squad intended to keep a regular pace so as not to allow the escape to take a long time ahead, because from the beginning it was thought that the definition of the title would be given by playing the stage as well.
PUBLICIDAD
Ineos Grenadiers stepped up the chase and took care of his main card so that he could react ahead of the end.
Roglic, who was the leader until stage 4, tried to leave the pack with an attack from afar, but it did not work, instead it caused the movement of Daniel Martinez and other riders such as Jonas Vingegaard from Jumbo Visma and Remco Evenepoel, who finally reacted late to the move.
PUBLICIDAD
Over the 30 km to the finish line Enric Mas and Nelson Oliveira fell when they were in the group that was chasing Davide Formolo of the UAE Team Emirates, the only runner left from the escape. This caused Daniel Martínez to be cut into a group where Remco had been chasing with Roglic, Soler and other riders.
Since then the struggle to reach the main group became quite intense for the soachuno who had to put up enough chevrons in order not to lose his place in the general standings and the chances of winning the competition.
In just a few seconds they divided Martinez's group with that of Russian Vlasov (Bora), Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), among others, when the finish line was 20 km away.
PUBLICIDAD
Daniel Martínez and Remco reached Group 1 and then the Colombian left looking to cut Remco with 14 km to go. However, the Belgian took a breath and caught up with him along with other runners.
Less than 10 km from the finish line Daniel and Remco played a bonus with the European taking 3 seconds, while Martinez took 2 and Pello Bilbao with 1. The last 7 kilometers stung up and it was mainly an auspicious setting for a climber like David de Formolo to take the lead again while in the back he was chased by the group of favorites.
PUBLICIDAD
Later, with 5 km to go, the young Spaniard Juan Pedro López (Trek Segafredo) came out from behind the group of capos to go and look for Formolo, aiming for the victory of the stage. Finally Remco burst and could not sustain the pace that his rivals set on the last climb, so he gave up time and the lead.
The Colombian cyclist managed to sustain his conditions even putting a pace forward to separate what was most possible from Remco, which left him as the virtual leader of the race when only 4.5 km left to go.
Vlasov, Izagirre who fell and returned to the group, in addition to Vingegaard and Formolo followed the pedaling of the coffee man who consolidated himself as one of the main favorites to stay with the stage victory.
PUBLICIDAD
Over the last kilometer Ion Izagirre del Cofidis overtook his rivals and took the final stage, while Daniel Martínez won the overall classification for Colombia and Ineos Grenadiers.
KEEP READING:
PUBLICIDAD