Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) claimed the GP Miguel Indurain for the third and final time of his career before he retires at the end of the season.
The Basque rider followed an attack at the start of the final, hilly lap with 29km to go and came into the final climb with two riders: Quinn Simmons (Lidl-Trek) and Markel Beloki (EF Education-Easypost).
Izagirre leapt away from his companions on the steep final climb with just over one kilometre to go and held on to celebrate in front of his home fans.
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Simmons held on for second, while Beloki was caught before the finish, but his teammate Alex Baudin sprinted in for third.
"There were a lot of emotions when I crossed the finish line," Izagirre said. "This is a very special race for me. I'm at home: my children, my parents, my friends were all there at the finish.
"This victory shows that our training camp in Teide with Alex Aranburu has paid off. After my result at Paris-Nice, I felt very fit, and that allowed me to approach the race well. The idea was to hang on until the last climb and then give it my all.
"This victory is perfect for us to approach the Tour of the Basque Country with confidence. I've been with this team for five years, I know everyone, I feel very comfortable here, and I'm still just as eager to live up to the trust placed in me."
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How it unfolded
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The 203.9 kilometre GP Miguel Indurain kicked off with a five-man breakaway containing Carlos García Pierna and Sinuhé Fernández (Burgos Burpellet BH), Unai Aznar (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Rafael Durães (Efapel), and Louis Ferreira (Anicolor/Campicarn). They rapidly gained five minutes on the peloton before a combination of climbs and an increasingly intense chase brought them back to within a minute when the television cameras came on with 65km to go.
As the breakaway began to shatter thanks in part to an attack from Fernández, a counter-attack went clear from the field with Carlos Verona (Lidl-Trek), Nicola Conci (XDS Astana), and Domen Novak (UAE Team Emirates-XRG). They picked up García Pierna but the move was nullified before it could get fully established.
After being joined by Geoffrey Bouchard (TotalEnergies) and Jokin Murguialday (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Fernández was finally relieved of his breakaway duties on the Alto de Lezáun with 50km to go.
As the two leaders were getting caught, another counter-attack came from the peloton just before the summit, driven by Javier Romo (Movistar). He was joined by Antonio Tiberi (Bahrain Victorious), Julien Bernard (Lidl-Trek) and Jardi van der Lee (EF Education-EasyPost). Mattia Gaffuri (Picnic-PostNL), Jesús Herrada (Burgos Burpellet BH), George Bennett (NSN) and Lennert van Eetvelt (Lotto-Intermarché) scrambled across, too, for a leading group of ten.
After a brief attack from Van Eetvelt and Bennett was brought back, Tiberi launched a move and was joined by Bernard, but the peloton picked up the chasers with 38km to go.
XDS Astana led the pursuit of the two escapees, holding them to ten seconds. Tiberi left Bernard behind but both were caught before the start of the final lap with 29km to go.
At the line, Hector Alvarez (Lidl-Trek) put in a dig and was joined by Jakob Omrzel (Bahrain Victorious), Harry Sweeny (EF Education-EasyPost), Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates XRG) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis).
Quinn Simmons followed a bridging move to join teammate Alvarez along with four more riders including Bennett and Diego Ulissi (XDS Astana). More riders scrambled across including German champion Georg Zimmermann (Lotto-Intermarché), making a large lead group that had barely 20 seconds on the chasing bunch.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The race was always going to come down to the series of three climbs in the final 15km, and because Movistar and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe missed the move, they made sure to keep the 12 escapees close along with Tudor and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA.
The catch just about came on the first climb, the Alto de Erául, but Simmons accelerated again, taking Sweeny and Izagirre along. Arrieta and Bennett struggled across to make it five at the front, just ahead of the peloton.
With 1.5km still to go to the crest, Izagirre attacked and only Simmons could follow. Sweeny came back to help his teammate Markel Beloki try to bridge to the leaders while the rest were caught by the peloton.
Beloki put in an impressive chase and had the pair in sight on the Alto Demuru with 6.5km to go while the bunch was almost 30 seconds behind group 1.
The three riders hit the descent together, with Simmons leading the way, with only one very short but steep ascent standing between them and victory.
On the steepest section, Izagirre accelerated and distanced Beloki first, then the US champion, too, much to the delight of the Basque fans.
Laura Weislo is a Cyclingnews veteran of 20 years. Having joined in 2006, Laura extensively covered the Operacion Puerto doping scandal, the years-long conflict between the UCI and the Tour de France organisers ASO over the creation of the WorldTour, and the downfall of Lance Armstrong and his lifetime ban for doping. As Managing Editor, Laura coordinates coverage for North American events and global news.
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