Tour of the Basque Country 2019 – Stage 2 [FULL STAGE]

April 09, 2019

Tour of the Basque Country 2019 – Stage 2 – Zumarraga – Gorraiz : 149,5 km

The Tour of the Basque Country (Spanish: Vuelta al País Vasco, Basque: Euskal Herriko Itzulia) is an annual cycling stage race held in the Spanish Basque Country in April. It is one of 37 races that make up the UCI World Tour calendar. As the Basque Country is a mountainous area, there are few flat stages, and thus the event favors those who are strong climbers. Most ascents in the Tour are not particularly high by professional cycling standards, but are often quite steep.

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) charged to the stage 2 victory on the short, steep uphill finish in Gorraiz at the Tour of the Basque Country. Bjorn Lambrecht (Lotto Soudal) attacked at the bottom of the climb but was caught and passed by Alaphilippe with roughly 100 metres to go. Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) finished third.

Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) tried to make a move at the bottom of the climb but was no match for Lambrecht or Alaphilippe. The German finished sixth on the stage and kept his overall lead by five seconds over Alaphilippe and 10 seconds over Kwiatkowski.

Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) had an untimely puncture that left him chasing the front group during the final 15km. It ended up costing him valuable time in the overall classification, as he crossed the line 1:12 behind Alaphilippe.

How it unfolded

The second stage of Tour of the Basque Country was 149km between Zumarraga and Gorraiz. The race offered two categorised ascents at in the first half: Olaberria (23km) and Lizarrusti (42km), and there were two intermediate sprints for bonus seconds, 3, 2 and 1 in Ibiriki (100km) and Sarrigueren (125km). But it was the nearly five kilometres of dirt roads in the final 50km that were the most decisive parts of the race.

Three riders kicked off the race with an early breakaway: Darwin Atapuma (Cofidis), Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo) and Garikoitz Garikoitz Bravo (Euskadi) attacked after 12km and quickly opened a gap. Julen Amezqueta (Caja Rural) tried to bridge and wound up stuck between the trio and the peloton for quite some time before finally making contact.

The four men raced over the first two ascents with Bernard taking first-place points over the Lizarrusti, but their gap dropped to 2:30 on the descent.

Organisers cancelled the first of six dirt road sectors. The five remaining gravel roads ranged between 400m to 1.8km long: Olatz-Xalduko (50km to go), Azpa (42km to go), Ustarroz (40km to go), Olaz (22km to go) and finally Egues (16km to go).

Astana led the race off the main roads on onto twisting country lanes, and caught the breakaway before the first gravel sector with 52km to go.

The peloton made it through the first gravel stretch intact, but split into two large groups over the Muro de Badostain ascent and into second stretch of dirt, which was much longer at 1.8km.

Movistar and Astana were the two driving forces at the front of the field, making it hard for dropped riders to catch back up.

Stage 1 winner and overnight leader Schachmann sprinted for the intermediate bonus seconds in Ibiriki, picking up three seconds, while Ion Izagirre picked up the full bonus seconds at the second sprint in Sarriguren.

Alaphilippe had a flat tire, but his Deceuninck-QuickStep teammates were quick to help him get back into the race. As Astana and Team Sky put the pressure on at the front of the field, however, Adam Yates punctured and needed to take a spare bike, all with only 16km to the finish line in Gorraiz.

Three of his Mitchelton-Scott teammates dropped back to help Yates, but he lost more than a minute. The speed was so high up front that even the lead group was splitting apart.

Heading into the final uphill kick before the finish line, Kwiatkowski and Alaphilippe, along with UAE Team Emirates’ Dan Martin stood in good position to contest the stage win.

Astana, Sky and Bora-Hansgrohe led the reduced front group into the last kilometre. Schachmann and Lambrecht jumped at the same time, at the bottom of the hill, but the Lotto Soudal rider opened several metres on the overall leader.

It looked Lambrecht he might hold on all the way to the finish line but he might have burnt too many matches too soon, and Alaphilippe pushed around to take the stage win.

Results :
1 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 3:29:37
2 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:01
3 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky
4 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team
5 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
6 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
7 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
8 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
9 Tadej Pogaar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
10 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
11 Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep
12 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
13 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida
14 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep
15 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates
16 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
17 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:00:06
18 Daniel Martínez (Col) EF Education First
19 Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:09
20 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott
21 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
22 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team
23 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
24 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo
25 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
26 Sergio Henao (Col) UAE Team Emirates
27 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
28 Hugh John Carthy (GBr) EF Education First
29 Carlos Verona (Spa) Movistar Team
30 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First
31 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
32 Marc Hirschi (Swi) Team Sunweb
33 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First
34 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
35 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
36 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team
37 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team
38 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
39 Carlos Julian Quintero Noreña (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:00:16
40 Alexander Aranburu Deba (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:00:18
41 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:20
42 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team 0:00:23
43 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First 0:00:24
44 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team
45 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
46 Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri) Team Dimension Data 0:00:26
47 Rubén Fernández (Spa) Movistar Team
48 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb
49 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Sky 0:01:05
50 Jay Mc Carthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:10
51 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:12
52 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:15
53 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal
54 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:24
55 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
56 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky 0:01:26
57 Fernando Barceló (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country – Murias 0:01:28
58 Óscar Rodríguez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
59 David de la Cruz (Spa) Team Sky 0:01:31
60 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
61 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
62 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
63 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:01:39
64 Aldemar Reyes Ortega (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:01:43
65 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data 0:01:49
66 Aurélien Paret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
67 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:53
68 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
69 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:57
70 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma
71 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal
72 Jonas Koch (Ger) CCC Team 0:02:26
73 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:29
74 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal 0:02:35
75 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:02:43
76 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:45
77 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:09
78 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:03:54
79 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:07:32
80 Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Dimension Data 0:08:15
81 Gari Bravo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country – Murias
82 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
83 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe
84 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
85 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb
86 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:08:58
87 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:12:53
88 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal
89 Nicolas Sessler (Bra) Burgos-BH
90 David Gonzalez Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
91 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin
92 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb
93 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates
94 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb
95 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data
96 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
97 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
98 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
99 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data
100 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal
101 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
102 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
103 Jon Irisarri Ricon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
104 Nicolas Saenz Ballesteros (Col) Manzana Postobon
105 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky
106 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First
107 Stephen Williams (GBr) Bahrain-Merida
108 Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
109 Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC Team
110 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
111 Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
112 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky
113 Luis Ángel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
114 Cristian Rodriguez Martin (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
115 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
116 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
117 Jesús Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
118 Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
119 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
120 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team
121 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
122 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
123 Jhonjan Orlando García (Col) Manzana Postobon
124 Ricardo Vilela (Por) Burgos-BH
125 Bernardo Albeiro Suaza Arango (Col) Manzana Postobon
126 Jetse Bol (Ned) Burgos-BH
127 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
128 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
129 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
130 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep
131 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
132 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
133 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
134 Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
135 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team
136 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
137 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb
138 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
139 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
140 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma
141 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
142 Daan Olivier (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma
143 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
144 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First

General Classification after Stage 2 :
1 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 3:46:48
2 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky 0:00:10
3 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:11
4 Daniel Martínez (Col) EF Education First 0:00:14
5 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:19
6 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:22
7 Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:24
8 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida 0:00:32
9 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:35
10 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:37
11 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:00:38
12 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky
13 Hugh John Carthy (GBr) EF Education First 0:00:39
14 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:40
15 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 0:00:42
16 Tadej Pogaar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:43
17 Alexandre Geniez (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:00:50
18 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:00:56
19 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team
20 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team 0:00:58
21 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:02
22 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
23 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:04
24 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:05
25 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:06
26 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:01:07
27 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:08
28 Sergio Henao (Col) UAE Team Emirates
29 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:10
30 Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri) Team Dimension Data 0:01:11
31 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team 0:01:16
32 Marc Hirschi (Swi) Team Sunweb
33 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:17
34 Patrick Bevin (NZl) CCC Team 0:01:18
35 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
36 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:27
37 Alexander Aranburu Deba (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:30
38 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:32
39 Rubén Fernández (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:33
40 Carlos Verona (Spa) Movistar Team
41 Carlos Julian Quintero Noreña (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:01:35
42 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:47
43 Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:48
44 Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin
45 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First 0:01:50
46 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First 0:01:56
47 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:01:57
48 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:02:02
49 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:03
50 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:05
51 Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Sky
52 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky 0:02:18
53 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:02:19
54 Óscar Rodríguez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:02:23
55 Jay Mc Carthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:02:27
56 David de la Cruz (Spa) Team Sky 0:02:33
57 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:41
58 Aldemar Reyes Ortega (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:02:55
59 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:02:57
60 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:03:01
61 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
62 Aurélien Paret (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:03:03
63 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:06
64 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:16
65 Fernando Barceló (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country – Murias 0:03:19
66 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:20
67 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:28
68 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data 0:03:29
69 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:03:32
70 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:03:36
71 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:04:01
72 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal 0:04:06
73 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:17
74 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:04:18
75 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:04:19
76 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:04:40
77 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:03
78 Jonas Koch (Ger) CCC Team 0:05:05
79 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:08:42
80 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:09:29
81 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:09:30
82 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb 0:09:40
83 Gari Bravo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country – Murias 0:09:46
84 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:10:11
85 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:10:16
86 Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Dimension Data 0:11:09
87 Rohan Dennis (Aus) Bahrain-Merida 0:13:39
88 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:13:46
89 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:13:50
90 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:13:58
91 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:14:03
92 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale
93 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:14:06
94 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:14:08
95 Jhonjan Orlando García (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:14:09
96 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
97 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First 0:14:14
98 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:14:19
99 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale 0:14:20
100 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:14:23
101 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 0:14:24
102 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:14:25
103 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
104 Ricardo Vilela (Por) Burgos-BH 0:14:28
105 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:14:30
106 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team
107 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:14:32
108 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:14:34
109 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
110 Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:14:36
111 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:14:37
112 Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC Team 0:14:38
113 Luis Ángel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
114 Jesús Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Crédits 0:14:42
115 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First
116 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:14:43
117 Stephen Williams (GBr) Bahrain-Merida 0:14:46
118 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team
119 Cristian Rodriguez Martin (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:14:49
120 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:14:50
121 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:14:58
122 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:15:04
123 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
124 Bernardo Albeiro Suaza Arango (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:15:06
125 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin 0:15:08
126 Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:15:09
127 Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:15:10
128 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal
129 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data 0:15:12
130 Jon Irisarri Ricon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:15:15
131 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:15:16
132 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:15:20
133 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:15:24
134 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky 0:15:25
135 Nicolas Saenz Ballesteros (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:15:29
136 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates 0:15:30
137 David Gonzalez Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:15:32
138 Daan Olivier (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:15:35
139 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo 0:15:37
140 Nicolas Sessler (Bra) Burgos-BH 0:15:52
141 Jetse Bol (Ned) Burgos-BH 0:16:00
142 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:16:01
143 Adam Hansen (Aus) Lotto Soudal 0:16:06
144 Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:16:07