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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.
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Tour of the Basque Country 2017 – Stage 5– Bilbo – Eibar – 139,8 km
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
General classification after stage 5 :
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
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
7 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
8 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
9 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
10 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
 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.
<strong>How it unfolded</strong>
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.
<strong>Results : </strong>
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
<strong>General classification after stage 5 :</strong>
1 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team
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
7 Jon Izaguirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida
8 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky
9 David De La Cruz (Spa) Quick-Step Floors
10 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe)
