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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.
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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) Team UAE Emirates
7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
8 Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ
9 Manuele Mori (Ita) Team UAE Emirates
10 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
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
 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.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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) Team UAE Emirates
7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
8 Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ
9 Manuele Mori (Ita) Team UAE Emirates
10 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
<strong>General classification after stage 2 :</strong>
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)
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