The final leg of the Tour of the Basque Country has often been hectic in the past. Until today, many transformations were possible.
The peloton was presented with a reasonably short ride, but one that was punctuated by seven categorized climbers.
Jonas Vingaard started the final stage as leader, and had a 13-second lead over Mikel Landa.
But even after that, the differences were very small. For example, the number 13 was less than 20 seconds from the podium.
Soon a strong leading group left the peloton. After a series of brutal stretches, four climbers managed to stay at the front of the peloton. Among them are two Jumbo passengers: Kruijswijk and Valter. Vingegaard was happy to see that happen.
In the peloton, it was a long wait for an attack attempt by one of the classification riders.
A noteworthy first attempt came from Mauro Schmid. The Swiss from Soudal – Quick-Step was 1’40” from the leader and sprinted towards the front runners.
With 30km to go, Izagirre tried too, but Vingegaard just wouldn’t budge.
On the penultimate climb, the Dane flew himself.
No one had an answer to his acceleration, the leader was loose and at no time did his rivals have a minute in his pants. Vingegaard advanced and surpassed everything and everyone.
A declaration from the Dane stating that he is in good condition.
His competitors are still allowed to split podium points between them.
James Knox eventually sprinted to second. Ion Izagirre finished third, joining Vingegaard and Landa on the podium.
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