Tour of the Basque Country 2017 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE]

April 04, 2017
Tour of the Basque Country 2017 – Stage 2– Iruña – Eltziego – 173,4 km

The 2017 Tour of the Basque Country is a road cycling stage race that is scheduled to take place between 3 and 8 April. It will be the 57th edition of the Tour of the Basque Country and will be the fourteenth event of the 2017 UCI World Tour.

Michael Albasini (Orica-Scott) scored his first victory of the 2017 season, taking out a chaotic bunch sprint on stage 2 of the Vuelta al País Vasco.

The Swiss rider timed his jump on the sinuous approach into Eltziego perfectly, countering a late attack from Lotto Soudal’s Sean De Bie into the final turn and holding off a late charge from Quick-Step’s Max Richeze.

De Bie claimed the third spot just ahead of overnight race leader Michael Matthews (Sunweb).

Although there are no time bonuses awarded for the Basque race finishes, Matthews maintained the lead thanks to the count back. Richeze and De Bie are now second and third overall, respectively, on the same time.

How it unfolded

The 173.4km trek from Iruña to Eltziego never quite kicked off as is the usual mode for the Vuelta al País Vasco. Instead, the peloton chose to save their energy in the stiff headwind, letting Fabricio Ferrari (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Luis Angel Maté Mardones (Cofidis) bury themselves in a futile attempt to hold their four minute gap.

The pair traded off taking the points on the two classified climbs and in the intermediate sprints, while behind the battle for the mountains classification between Igor Anton (Dimension Data) and Yoann Bagot (Cofidis) provided a small amount of entertainment in what was otherwise a difficult-to-watch stage.

Anton managed to take three points across the two climbs, the category 2 Etxauri and cat 3 Aldeako, but Bagot narrowly kept his lead by picking up the last point on the more difficult ascent.

Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) had an issue after the final climb, but had plenty of time to chase back into the peloton with the help of his teammates.

As the leaders wound through Rioja wine country, a steady grade and the fatigue of racing two against the peloton brought the duo’s lead down to a single minute with 31km to go. However, a pause to organise in the peloton and some extra determination from the leaders kept the advantage bouncing around that for the next 10km.

Finally, with the penultimate intermediate sprint behind and a gradual rise with 20 kilometres to go quickly brought Ferrari and Mate within sight of the peloton. Luis Mas (Caja Rural) jumped away to take the sprint bonus to keep his lead in the sprint classification intact.

Ferrari gave in to the chase with 18 kilometers to go, but Mate carried on in a clearly futile attack that the sprinters’ teams were more than happy to indulge. He was finally caught as the road levelled off two kilometres later.

Quick-Step Floors amassed at the front to keep any further attacks at bay, but were swamped on the first of two small climbs before the downhill run to the line, setting up a swirling, massed peloton with riders constantly fighting for position.

Sunweb staged a full on lead-out into the base the final gradient for race leader Matthews, a surge that jettisoned a number of riders out the back.

The descent is where the peloton finally got lined out behind Orica-Scott, who seemed to be hoping to vault Simon Gerrans to the stage victory and possible race lead.

The peloton threatened to bunch back up again before Julian Alaphilippe came to the front for Quick-Step with four km to go, but the pace was too high for any gap to form.

FDJ took over with a four-man lead-out with two kilometres to go, followed by LottoNl-Jumbo, who led into the final kilometer.

Sean De Bie (Lotto Soudal) attacked but was shut down by the Dutch team, and it was Albasini who chose the right point to open the sprint, attacking into the final turn and then staving off Quick-Step’s Richeze, with De Bie holding on for third.

Results :
1 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott 4:35:22
2 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
3 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal
4 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
5 Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
6 Matej Mohoric (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
8 Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ
9 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
10 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
11 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
12 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
13 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
14 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
15 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb
16 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
17 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
18 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
19 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
20 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team
21 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
22 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ
23 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
24 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin
25 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
26 Omar Fraile (Spa) Dimension Data
27 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
28 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
29 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
30 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data
31 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data
32 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
33 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
34 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
35 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
36 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
37 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
38 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
39 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
40 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ
41 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
42 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
43 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
44 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
45 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
46 Léo Vincent (Fra) FDJ
47 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
48 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
49 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
50 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott
51 Carlos Verona (Spa) Orica-Scott
52 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
53 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
54 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-Scott
55 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
56 Rafael Valls (Spa) Lotto Soudal
57 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
58 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
59 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida
60 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
61 Rafael Reis (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
62 Igor Anton (Spa) Dimension Data
63 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
64 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
65 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky
66 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
67 Jonathan Lastra (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
68 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
69 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
70 Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
71 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
72 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
73 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
74 Darwin Atapuma (Col) UAE Team Emirates
75 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
76 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
77 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
78 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
79 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
80 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
81 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac
82 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
83 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
84 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
85 Luis Mas (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
86 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
87 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
88 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo
89 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
90 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida
91 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
92 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Dimension Data
93 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ
94 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
95 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
96 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
97 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac
98 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
99 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky
100 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
101 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
102 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
103 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
104 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac
105 Cedric Pineau (Fra) FDJ
106 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Katusha-Alpecin
107 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
108 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Movistar Team
109 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ
110 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
111 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
112 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
113 Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
114 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
115 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe
116 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
117 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
118 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
119 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
120 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
121 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
122 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
123 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
124 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott
125 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Orica-Scott
126 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ
127 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
128 Jose Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team
129 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Sunweb
130 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
131 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
132 Ángel Vicioso (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
133 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
134 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
135 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
136 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:07
137 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:01:28
138 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:39
139 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:02:09
140 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
141 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team
142 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team
143 Fabricio Ferrari (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
144 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:02:28
145 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
146 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors
147 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data
148 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
149 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
150 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
151 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin
152 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:02:46
153 Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
154 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
155 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:37
156 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:52
157 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:04
158 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:34
159 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:06:15

General classification after stage 2 :
1 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 8:20:29
2 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Quick-Step Floors
3 Sean De Bie (Bel) Lotto Soudal
4 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
5 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
6 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
7 Matej Mohoric (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
8 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
9 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
10 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ
11 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
12 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
13 Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
14 Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ
15 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
16 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
17 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
18 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
19 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-Scott
20 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
21 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
22 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
23 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
24 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data
25 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
26 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
27 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
28 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
29 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott
30 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
31 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin
32 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
33 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
34 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team
35 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data
36 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
37 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
38 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
39 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott
40 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida
41 Carlos Verona (Spa) Orica-Scott
42 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
43 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky
44 Loïc Vliegen (Bel) BMC Racing Team
45 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
46 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
47 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team
48 Rafael Valls (Spa) Lotto Soudal
49 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
50 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
51 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
52 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
53 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida
54 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb
55 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team
56 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ
57 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky
58 Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
59 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
60 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
61 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
62 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
63 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
64 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
65 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
66 Andrew Talansky (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
67 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Movistar Team
68 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
69 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
70 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
71 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team
72 Léo Vincent (Fra) FDJ
73 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
74 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
75 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
76 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
77 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac
78 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
79 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
80 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
81 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
82 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
83 Jonathan Lastra (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
84 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
85 Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto Soudal
86 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
87 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
88 Omar Fraile (Spa) Dimension Data
89 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
90 Igor Anton (Spa) Dimension Data
91 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky
92 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
93 Rafael Reis (Por) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
94 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
95 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data
96 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
97 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
98 Daniel Navarro (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
99 Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
100 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
101 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac
102 Darwin Atapuma (Col) UAE Team Emirates
103 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
104 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Katusha-Alpecin
105 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky
106 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
107 Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data
108 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
109 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ
110 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
111 Adrien Niyonshuti (Rwa) Dimension Data
112 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo
113 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
114 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott
115 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
116 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
117 Ángel Vicioso (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
118 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
119 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Orica-Scott
120 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
121 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
122 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb
123 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
124 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
125 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:07
126 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ 0:01:24
127 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:29
128 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ
129 Cedric Pineau (Fra) FDJ
130 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Sunweb
131 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:02:09
132 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
133 Fabricio Ferrari (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
134 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
135 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:02:19
136 Jose Herrada (Spa) Movistar Team
137 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors
138 Jhonatan Restrepo (Col) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:28
139 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Quick-Step Floors
140 Quentin Jauregui (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
141 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
142 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data
143 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
144 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:02:46
145 Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
146 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:57
147 Luis Mas (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:03:05
148 Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:08
149 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:12
150 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:26
151 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:03:47
152 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:03:52
153 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates 0:04:04
154 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:15
155 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team 0:04:28
156 Martin Velits (Svk) Quick-Step Floors 0:04:47
157 Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:05:34
158 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:06:27
159 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:09:28