Primoz Roglic wins Itzulia Basque Country

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Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) went on the attack to expose, crack and distance Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) to secure overall victory at the Itzulia Basque Country race during the final hilly stage 6 to Arrate.  

Roglič got away from UAE Team Emirates mid-stage and produced a gutsy brave ride to take overall victory. 

Tadej Pogačar tried to pace McNulty in the pursuit of Roglič but then abandoned the American when he suffered on the steep Krabelin climb, to start a chase of his fellow Slovenian and a podium place, with other riders sitting on his wheel all the way to the finish.  

David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) went on the attack on the final climb and then took the stage victory with Roglič happy to finish just behind him, also with his arms in the air, having won overall. Hugh Carthy (EF Education-Nippo) was also in the move but was cruelly distanced on the climb to the finish atop Arrate and finished out of the top ten. 

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) brought home the chase group, just ahead of Pogačar at 35 seconds but Roglič had stolen the day. In the final overall classification, he finished 52 seconds ahead of his Jumbo-Visma teammate Jonas Vingegaard, who marked Pogačar all the way to the finish to take second place. He also won the best young rider prize, with Jumbo-Visma taking all the jersey and team classification.   

Pogačar got some reward for his chasing, finishing third overall at 1:07. Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers ) was fourth at 1:26, one second ahead of Gaudu.

"I’m incredibly happy to win this stage in the Basque Country. I haven’t had a major win for a while. It doesn't happen everyday that you finish with Primož Roglič, he’s such a strong rider and his work was very important for my win,” Gaudu said after exchanging a hug with the Slovenian after their double victory.   

“It was a hard day out there. I was very motivated for it and with the help from my team, we got the cake in the end.” 

How it unfolded

With 3,200 metres of climbing in just 112km of racing over seven categorised climbs, the final stage was always going to be explosive and decisive for overall victory. It was no surprise that most teams warmed-up on the rollers for the fast start and intense racing.

The two short early climbs inspired several attacks, with Carthy especially active. An early break formed but the speed was so high they were not allowed to get away and other riders used every opportunity to jump across and swell the numbers up front. The attacks were a clear warning of what was to come.  

Over the top of the Azurki climb after 23km, Enric Mas (Movistar), Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), Patrick Bevin (Israel Start-Up Nation), Hugh Carthy (EF), Ben O’Connor (AG2R Citroen), Omar Fraile (Astana-Premier Tech) and Antwan Tolhoek (Jumbo-Visma) created a serious attack and had UAE worried.  

Next up was the Elosua-Gorla climb after 35km and the battle for GC turned very serious. 

Mark Padun (Bahrain) and Carlos Verona (Movistar) were the first to get across, indicating the UAE pace was not very fast. Then Guillaume Martin (Cofidis) and more importantly Sam Oomen (Jumbo-Visma) went across. UAE sent Marc Hirschi to mark the moves but that left just Diego Ulissi and Rafa Majka to help with the chase.

The climb hurt, with just 30 or so riders up front, but the big surprise came over the top and on the fast descent with 70km to race. Astana upped the pace and Roglič made sure he was on their wheels, while McNulty and Pogačar hesitated and were caught too far back. 

Suddenly the fight for the GC was on and Roglič sensed his chance. 

Other riders came across to them and with Fraile riding flat out for Izagirre, Movistar for Valverde and Bahrain for Mikel Landa, they distanced McNulty and Pogačar and closed in on the early break. By the time the descent was over, the gap was up to 20 seconds. It was the moment the race was lost.

With alarm bells ringing at UAE Team Emirates, they called back Hirschi to help with the chase. However it was a high-speed pursuit match and the Pogačar group was stronger and more determined. The gap went up to 30 seconds on the valley road. Pogačar took over the chase but the gap would never fall again.

Pogačar worked to help McNulty but the young American’s current ability was cruelly exposed on the steep Krabelin climb. He lost contact on the steepest middle sector and Pogačar was told via team radio to push on alone. His problem was that he had already worked in the pursuit and was 30 seconds behind.

He reduced the gap to 20 seconds at the summit but Roglič attacked to slim down his group, weather only Gaudu and Carthy able to hold the pace. They worked together on the descent and valley roads as Pogačar could only pick up stragglers and freeloaders.  

Up front Roglič used his trialing skills to push out his lead and also swept up six bonus seconds at the two intermediate sprints. Gauydu and Carthy sat but even began to share the work when the gap reached a minute, knowing their reward would be a chance of the stage victory. 

As the kilometres to the final climb ticked down, Pogačar tried to lead the chase but the gap stayed at a minute as his frustrations grew. Valverde attacked several times on the rolling roads near Ermua but he was brought back, with only Adam Yates helping Pogačar with the work. 

Behind McNulty valiantly tried to chase and was in reach of the Pogačar group for a while but then suffered and slipped to 1:30 behind. He was at 3:00 when the final climb started.

As soon as the Arrate climb began to hurt, Gaudu accelerated away, cracking Carthy. Roglič managed to get on his wheel and suddenly, with Pogačar at 55 seconds, the outcome of the stage and the race was clear. 

The two rode together on the climb, agreeing a sharing of the spoils rather than attacking each other. 

After losing overall victory at the Tour de France to Pogačar in the final time trial and then losing Paris-Nice on the final day due to crashes, Roglič did what others had done to him and pulled off an impressive final stage victory.