Tour of the Basque Country 2017 – Stage 5 [FULL STAGE]

April 07, 2017
Tour of the Basque Country 2017 – Stage 5– Bilbo – Eibar – 139,8 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.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) took one step closer to winning his first Vuelta al Pais Vasco on Friday, winning the queen stage to Eibar over Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale).

Valverde closed the gap to a late attack from Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) and Louis Meintjes (UAE Team Emirates) near the summit of the climb, bringing along Bardet and Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac), who took third on the stage.

Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) trailed across the line three seconds behind, with Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), Sergio Henao (Sky) and Simon Yates (Orica-Scott) a further dozen seconds down.

Overnight race leader David De La Cruz (Quick-Step Floors) lost contact on the steepest part of the final climb, but rallied to keep himself inside the top 10 overall, coming across the line 22 seconds behind Valverde.

Valverde now leads the race with one stage remaining, but on the same time with Bardet and Uran.

The riders face a 27.7km time trial on Saturday that will decide the overall classification.

How it unfolded

The queen stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco would finally break up the stacked overall classification, with six classified climbs packed into the 139.8km on the route from Bilbo to Eibar, including the summit finish on the Usartzako. The peloton departed without Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), who was suffering from a sore knee after a crash on stage 3, and Contador had to chase through the neutral section after having a puncture.

With such a short stage, it took a while for a breakaway to form, but eventually a large group skipped off the front

Omar Fraile, Ben King and Adrien Niyonshuti (Dimension Data), Amael Moinard and Danilo Wyss (BMC), Matej Mohoric and Kristijan Durasek (UAE Team Emirates), Alexey Lutsenko (Astana), Tiago Machado (Katusha-Alpecin), Juan Jose Lobato (LottoNL-Jumbo), Laurens Ten Dam (Sunweb), Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal), Alex Howes and Toms Skujins (Cannondale-Drapac), Matteo Montaguti (AG2R-La Mondiale), Luis Mas (Caja Rural), Mathias Leturnier and Yoann Bagot (Cofidis).

Niyonshuti was dropped on the Puerto de Pagatza, the first category 2 climb, before mountains classification leader Howes missed out on the maximum points to Montaguti. Mas claimed the sprint classification points, moving back into the lead of the rankings over teammate Jonathan Lastra. The breakaway’s gap, which had only been 1:50 at the biggest, was already coming down as the mountain-packed second half of the stage approached.

On the second climb, Fraile attacked to take the lead on the second climb of the category 1 Izua. The move drew out Ten Dam and Skujins, but the peloton was soon in sight, and swept past the two with 54km to go before the next climb.

Orica-Scott set a brisk tempo on the second ascent of the Izua, with race leader De La Cruz tucked safely behind their train surrounded by his Quick-Step teammates.

Orica continued to throttle the pace on the penultimate category 3 Urkaregi, putting Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) briefly into touch of trouble when he suffered a mechanical and had to get a new bike. But the Pole caught back on before the top, just as Lotto Soudal’s Tosh van der Sande attacked – a move that was quickly reeled in.

The peloton rolled along, status quo, until 5km to go when Michael Woods (Cannondale-Drapac) attacked on the final climb. The move didn’t work but did serve to spark a counter attack from Valverde, Henao and Contador that he could just latch onto.

The quartet dangled just ahead of the peloton, still led by Orica-Scott.

Valverde sensed the catch, and attacked with 4.3km to go, but the effort was too soon. A brief ease and the four were caught, but Woods was not ready to give up – he countered the move and got away with 4km to go.

The Valverde group kept him in sight, but De La Cruz lost contact behind, giving up half a minute, but fought his way back to the riders ahead. Meanwhile, Meintjes had clicked off the front and joined the Canadian with 3.3km to go.

But a surge from Valverde reeled the pair in with 2.4km to go before the crest of the climb with the other main favourites on his wheel.

The Movistar rider then timed his sprint perfectly to take out the stage and the race lead.

Results :
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 3:26:32
2 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
3 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
4 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac
5 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:03
7 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:15
8 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
9 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott
10 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:22
11 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
12 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
13 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:00:34
14 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:47
15 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
16 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:58
17 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
18 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
19 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
20 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
21 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:11
22 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
23 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team
24 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
25 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:27
26 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data
27 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
28 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
29 Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ 0:01:42
30 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:55
31 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:57
32 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:02:00
33 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
34 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida 0:02:16
35 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:30
36 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:02:43
37 Igor Anton (Spa) Dimension Data
38 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
39 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Sunweb
40 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo
41 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team
42 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team
43 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky
44 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott 0:03:10
45 Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
46 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin
47 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:03:33
48 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida
49 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott
50 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:40
51 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ 0:04:29
52 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
53 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb
54 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team
55 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:04:46
56 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
57 Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
58 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
59 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:05:10
60 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Movistar Team
61 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:05:20
62 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:06:01
63 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data 0:06:44
64 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:07:10
65 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team
66 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ
67 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:08:59
68 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ
69 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
70 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:09:22
71 Carlos Verona (Spa) Orica-Scott
72 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky
73 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:09:24
74 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
75 Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
76 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
77 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac
78 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
79 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Katusha-Alpecin 0:09:27
80 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team
81 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo
82 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
83 Fabricio Ferrari (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
84 Jonathan Lastra (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
85 Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
86 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb
87 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
88 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida
89 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky 0:09:44
90 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ
91 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:10:04
92 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:10:39
93 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac
94 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
95 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale
96 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac
97 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ 0:11:05
98 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:11:15
99 Cedric Pineau (Fra) FDJ 0:11:39
100 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Orica-Scott 0:12:05
101 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:13:09
102 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
103 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:13:23
104 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
105 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:14:07
106 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
107 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
108 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb
109 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:14:12
110 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
111 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:14:42
112 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
113 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team
114 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
115 Ángel Vicioso (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:14:44
116 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:14:48
117 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:15:03
118 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
119 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates
120 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
121 Matej Mohoric (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
122 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors
123 Léo Vincent (Fra) FDJ
124 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:15:07
125 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:15:11
126 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
127 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:15:25
128 Omar Fraile (Spa) Dimension Data 0:15:27
129 Luis Mas (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
130 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
131 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo
132 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
133 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:16:20
134 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:16:36
135 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott
136 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott
137 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
138 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:17:02

General classification after stage 5 :
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 20:05:18
2 Rigoberto Uran (Col) Cannondale-Drapac
3 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
4 Louis Meintjes (RSA) UAE Team Emirates
5 Michael Woods (Can) Cannondale-Drapac
6 Alberto Contador (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:03
7 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:15
8 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
9 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors 0:00:19
10 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:22
11 Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
12 Samuel Sanchez (Spa) BMC Racing Team 0:00:34
13 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:47
14 Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin
15 George Bennett (NZl) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:00:58
16 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team
17 Warren Barguil (Fra) Team Sunweb
18 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
19 Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
20 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:01:08
21 Jaime Roson (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:11
22 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:01:27
23 Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data
24 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida
25 Rudy Molard (Fra) FDJ 0:01:42
26 Simon Yates (GBr) Orica-Scott 0:01:45
27 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:02:00
28 Ruben Fernandez (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:43
29 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
30 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Team Sky 0:03:25
31 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Bahrain-Merida 0:03:33
32 Sebastian Henao (Col) Team Sky 0:04:08
33 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:04:30
34 Luis León Sanchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:04:46
35 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Orica-Scott 0:04:48
36 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:05:19
37 Nicolas Roche (Irl) BMC Racing Team 0:05:55
38 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:06:11
39 Merhawi Kudus (Eri) Dimension Data 0:06:44
40 Simon Geschke (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:07:07
41 Alexander Aranburu (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:07:10
42 Daniel Moreno (Spa) Movistar Team 0:08:05
43 Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team 0:09:23
44 Ondrej Cink (Cze) Bahrain-Merida 0:09:24
45 Georg Preidler (Aut) Team Sunweb 0:09:33
46 Floris De Tier (Bel) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:09:58
47 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:10:02
48 Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:10:26
49 Jack Haig (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:10:41
50 Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:10:49
51 Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Katusha-Alpecin 0:10:52
52 André Cardoso (Por) Trek-Segafredo 0:12:00
53 Carlos Verona (Spa) Orica-Scott 0:12:25
54 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:12:38
55 Tiago Machado (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:14:34
56 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
57 Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team 0:15:17
58 Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:16:01
59 Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Movistar Team 0:16:02
60 Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky 0:16:30
61 Paul Martens (Ger) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:16:35
62 Ángel Vicioso (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:17:08
63 Luis Angel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:18:01
64 Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin 0:18:02
65 Odd Christian Eiking (Nor) FDJ 0:18:16
66 Jon Irisarri (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:18:36
67 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:19:24
68 Igor Anton (Spa) Dimension Data 0:19:40
69 Laurens Ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb 0:19:55
70 Nathan Brown (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:19:56
71 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:20:37
72 Omar Fraile (Spa) Dimension Data 0:21:45
73 Valerio Conti (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:21:55
74 Michael Valgren Andersen (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:22:21
75 Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:23:01
76 Antwan Tolhoek (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:23:42
77 Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:24:20
78 David Lopez (Spa) Team Sky 0:24:54
79 Sergio Pardilla (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:24:56
80 Guillaume Bonnafond (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:25:14
81 Jesus Hernandez (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:25:50
82 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Cannondale-Drapac 0:26:11
83 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:26:59
84 Matvey Mamykin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:27:23
85 Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ 0:27:55
86 Rory Sutherland (Aus) Movistar Team 0:29:27
87 Clement Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:30:05
88 Ruben Plaza (Spa) Orica-Scott 0:31:31
89 Stéphane Rossetto (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:31:33
90 Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team 0:31:51
91 Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) FDJ 0:32:05
92 Arnaud Courteille (Fra) FDJ 0:33:28
93 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:33:58
94 Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida 0:34:08
95 Anthony Roux (Fra) FDJ 0:34:43
96 Matej Mohoric (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:34:52
97 Cedric Pineau (Fra) FDJ 0:35:10
98 Yoann Bagot (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:35:44
99 Toms Skujins (Lat) Cannondale-Drapac 0:35:57
100 Rob Power (Aus) Orica-Scott 0:36:02
101 Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky 0:36:17
102 Mathias Leturnier (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:36:44
103 Matteo Montaguti (Ita) AG2R La Mondiale 0:37:00
104 Silvio Herklotz (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:37:02
105 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Quick-Step Floors 0:37:12
106 Jonathan Lastra (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:37:25
107 Kristijan Durasek (Cro) UAE Team Emirates
108 Fabricio Ferrari (Uru) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:37:28
109 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:37:57
110 Antonio Nibali (Ita) Bahrain-Merida 0:38:04
111 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale-Drapac 0:38:16
112 Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors 0:38:19
113 Michael Albasini (Swi) Orica-Scott 0:38:38
114 Juan Jose Lobato (Spa) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:38:43
115 Ben Swift (GBr) UAE Team Emirates 0:38:56
116 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:39:18
117 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky 0:39:44
118 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:39:59
119 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
120 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:40:02
121 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team 0:40:29
122 Amael Moinard (Fra) BMC Racing Team 0:41:15
123 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:41:19
124 Julien Berard (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
125 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:41:28
126 Alex Howes (USA) Cannondale-Drapac 0:42:09
127 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Team LottoNl-Jumbo 0:42:32
128 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:43:05
129 Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:43:46
130 Léo Vincent (Fra) FDJ 0:44:04
131 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:45:03
132 Maxim Belkov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:45:20
133 Michael Schwarzmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:46:11
134 Luis Mas (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:47:41
135 Nikita Stalnov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:48:44
136 Bakhtiyar Kozhatayev (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:49:16
137 Chris Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:49:27
138 Laurent Didier (Lux) Trek-Segafredo 0:49:58