Tour of the Basque Country 2017 – Stage 6 [FULL STAGE – Individual Time Trial]

April 08, 2017
Tour of the Basque Country 2017 – Stage 6 – Eibar – Eibar (ITT) : 27,7 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) continued his startlingly rich vein of spring form by winning the Vuelta al Pais Vasco on Saturday, beating Alberto Contador (Trek-Segafredo) into second place. Valverde sealed his win by finishing second behind Saturday’s concluding time trial in Eibar, with LottoNl-Jumbo’s Primoz Roglic claiming the TT victory.

“I always wanted to win this race. I have been riding it for many years, and I have always been very close,” Valverde said. “This leaves a very, very special taste. It was a really hard time trial. It was tight with Ion [Izagirre] and Alberto, to be honest, it was an advantage to be last off. Knowing the splits of the men who went before was important.”

The day began with five riders locked on the same time as Valverde at the head of the overall standings, while Contador loomed with intent just three seconds back. Despite the tight margins at the beginning of the stage, however, it was clear by the first checkpoint that the race would be a duel between Contador and Valverde.

The 27km time trial began with the 6km ascent of the Elgeta, but Contador was the only one of the general classification contenders to use a regular road bike for the opening part of the stage before switching to his time trial machine for the sweeping descent and rolling run to the line.

The decision looked to be a sage one at the first time check. Despite losing a handful of seconds to make his bike change just shy of the summit of the climb, Contador swooped down the other side to clock the best time at the 12.7-kilometre mark, 12 seconds clear of overall threat Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) and 33 seconds ahead of the stage winner Roglic.

When the yellow jersey of Valverde came through the same point 9 seconds down on Contador, it meant that the provisional overall lead had passed onto the Trek-Segafredo man’s shoulders, and as he pedalled smoothly back towards Eibar, he seemed destined to land his fifth overall win in the Basque Country.

On the back end of the course, however, Valverde began to claw back his deficit. With five kilometres to go, he had drawn level with Contador on the day and moved back into the virtual overall lead. With his two-minute man Rigoberto Uran (Cannondale-Drapac) serving as a carrot in the closing kilometres, Valverde continued to gain on Contador. He stopped the clock with the day’s second best time, 9 seconds down on Roglic, but 14 ahead of Contador, who took fourth on the stage after fading in the final miles.

The result saw Valverde claim overall victory by some 17 seconds from Contador, while Izagirre took the third step on the podium, 21 seconds back. David De La Cruz (Quick-Step), who began the day in 9th, moved up to fourth overall thanks to his fifth place on the stage.

Primoz Roglic’s stage win, his second of the race after he soloed to victory on Thursday’s stage 4, was enough to push him up to fifth place overall, while Louis Meintjes (UAE Emirates) was the best of the men who started the day on the same time as Valverde, and the South African comes away with sixth place overall.

It was a rather lacklustre afternoon for Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale), however, as he slipped to 15th overall after losing 2:33 on the stage. Uran, an outside bet for the overall win given his time trialling pedigree, faired marginally better, though dropping from second to ninth overall can only be viewed as a disappointment for the Colombian.

One of the day’s most eye-catching performances, meanwhile, was delivered by Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), who spent some time in the hot seat and finished the day in 6th place on the stage. A stage winner earlier in the race, the Australian has marked himself out as one of the favourites for next week’s Amstel Gold Race.

Valverde emerged as the day’s biggest winner, however. He has made a remarkable start to the 2017 campaign, having already won the Vuelta a Andalucía and the Volta a Catalunya. Valverde had never won the Tour of the Basque Country, though he placed second all the way back in 2006 behind José Ángel Gómez Marchante.

Valverde also stood on the second step of the podium in 2010, but was later stripped of the result when he was handed a retroactive two-year ban for blood doping following his implication in Operacion Puerto. He returned to the professional peloton in 2012 seemingly without missing a beat and has enjoyed some of the best results of his career in the intervening period, including podium finishes at the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia. He seems on another level again in 2017.

“Even I’m surprised at how the season is going,” Valverde said. “Every year I always say at this point that it was my best start, but in this case, yes, there can be no doubt: It’s my best start ever.”

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

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