Tour of the Basque Country 2023 – Stage 6 [FULL STAGE]

April 8, 2023

Tour of the Basque Country 2023 – Stage 6 – Eibar – Eibar : 137,8 km

As half of the pro peloton hammers themselves over rain-soaked cobblestones in Flanders and Northern France, the other half seeks sunnier solace in the Basque Country with a six day long stage-race known by the locals as Euskal Herriko Itzulia. This unique area of Northern Spain is a playground for the climbers during the spring and one of the best places to hone their form ahead of the first Grand Tour of the season, which often falls just a month after. The race is characterised by its short and snappy stages over gruelling Pyrenean terrain. While the climbs may not be as high as those in the Grand Tours, they are a hell of a lot steeper with many climbs in the region reaching gradients of 20% and above. The race follows a six-day format with a series of mountainous stages around the Basque highlands and Pyrenees before a punchy individual time trial on the final day. It’s not just the leg-breaking climbs that set this race apart from others on the racing calendar, it’s also the fans that come out in their thousands to watch it. Every inch of the route is littered with adoring supporters, each one screaming on their heroes with the same unbridled passion as the next. If you’ve ever wondered where the home of cycling is, it’s here.

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) tamed a potentially treacherous final day of Itzulia Basque Country, sealing the overall title with a long-range solo stage victory.

Attack was deemed the best form of defence for the Tour de France champion and his team, with two riders sent into the day’s breakaway who later helped Vingegaard move clear on the sixth of the seven climbs that were packed into the 138km route around Eibar.

Vingegaard took short turns from Atilla Valter and Steven Kruijswijk but looked like he could have coped without them as he left his rivals behind in emphatic fashion with just under 30km to go.

From there, he eased to stage and overall glory, crossing the line nearly a minute clear of the rest – giving away 30 seconds or so as he blew kisses to the crowd and cameras in the final kilometre.

James Knox (Soudal-QuickStep) placed second at 47 seconds after attacking from a disorganised chase group on the run-in to Eibar, with Ion Izaguirre (Cofidis) leading that group home two seconds later.

Izaguirre’s four bonus seconds for third place were enough to bump him up from sixth overall and onto the final podium, overtaking David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), who was also in the chase group, and Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo), who started the day third overall but lost four minutes.

Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) set his teammate Hermann Pernsteiner to work in the peloton all day but was unable to launch any kind of attack on Vingegaard and had to settle for second overall at 1:12.

“It was a hard day, but a really good day for us,” Vingegaard said after sealing his first week-long stage race victory at WorldTour level.

“Once again I have to thank my teammates, today they were amazing, they really locked up the race, having two guys in the break. We did a perfect job today I think.

“I was thinking if I have to go it’s on the second last climb because last one was not hard enough to make a big difference. I had the legs and I wanted to try.”

How it unfolded
The sixth and final stage of the Itzulia packed seven climbs into a typically punchy and demanding 137.8km route, promising action from start to finish.

As expected, some big names looked to infiltrate the early breakaway, with the first forays going on the opening category-3 climb of Elkorrieta before a move properly formed on the subsequent cat-1 Azurki.

12 riders went up the road, with Jumbo’s Kruijswijk and Valter joined by Dani Martinez (Ineos), Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates), Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost), Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), Ruben Guerreiro (Movistar) , Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla), Valentin Paret-Peintre (AG2R), Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe), Harm Vanhoucke (DSM), Rein Taaramae (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty).

The gap to the bunch extended to 1:45 over the cat-2 Gorla climb, but things really lit up on the fearsome mid-race ascent of the Krabelin – 5km at 9.6%. Chaves, Kruijswijk, and Guerreiro quickly rode away from the rest, with Valter just about staying within sight and rejoining on the descent to leave four out front.

After the subsequent descent, a section of valley road saw a counter-attack from the Pernsteiner-led peloton, with Mauro Schmid attacking with Igor Arrieta (Kern Pharma), and Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies) before dropping them on the short cat-3 climb of Trabakua.

Schmid made it to the front of the race on the other side, with Cofidis starting to contribute in a peloton that was then at 1:25. Cooperation waned up front, and Chaves waved his arms in remonstration before Schmid hit him with a sucker attack, finding 30 seconds.

However the whole stage suddenly changed when the race hit the Izua climb, the penultimate ascent and the final cat-1 climb – measuring 4.1km at 9.2%. Vingegaard wasted little time making his move, and that was quickly that for the breakaway.

The Dane first found Valter dropping from the break for a short period of assistance, with Enric Mas (Movistar) the only rider capable of following the initial attack. Vingegaard then linked up with Kruijswijk and kicked again, with Mas unable to respond this time, despite finding a teammate of his own in Guerreiro.

Vingegaard then made his way over to the two remaining escapees, Chaves and Schmid, and eased clear of them in the saddle to lead solo with just under 30km remaining. He found 35 seconds by the summit, another 20 on the descent, and crested the final climb of Urkaregi with 1:20 in hand – a done deal.

The chasers formed into one group for the run-in, with Landa, Izaguirre, Mas, Gaudu, and Knox joined by Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe), Simon Yates (Jayco-AlUla), Brandon McNulty (UAE), Felix Gall (AG2R), plus the irrepressible Chaves and Schmid.

Amid multiple attacks, Knox made one stick for second place on the day, while Izaguirre moved onto the final podium with his sprint from the rest, but they were effectively riding a different race to the dominant winner of the day and the week.

Results :

Final General Classification :