Julian Alaphilippe sprints to stage 2 win at Itzulia Basque Country

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Reigning World Champion Julian Alaphilippe (Quick Step-AlphaVinyl) has taken more than  six months to claim his first victory in his 2021 rainbow jersey, but when it finally came on  stage two of the 2022 Itzulia Basque Country, it was taken in breathtakingly imperious fashion.

As he flashed across the line having swept the floor with the opposition, Alaphilippe was clearly ahead of second-placed fellow Frenchman Fabien Doubey (TotalEnergies), with Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert’s Quinten Hermans making up the day’s podium.

After Alaphilippe claimed the win on the rolling 207.9-kilometre stage between Leitza and Viana, stage 1 winner Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) retained the overall lead as the race heads to a more complicated and hilly stage 3 from Laudio to Amurrio on Wednesday.

In 2020, Alaphilippe’s first victory as World Champion came in Brabantse Pijl just 10 days after winning in Imola and this time the gap between regaining the rainbow jersey and his first triumph took notably longer.But it was worth the wait.

A faultlessly-timed and lengthy leadout from teammate Remco Evenepoel on a technical and winding uphill run-in at Viana had left Alaf’ ideally positioned with 150 metres to go to claim the victory.

And after he stormed across the line for the fourth Itzulia stage win of his career, behind Evenepoel underlined the superb collaboration between the two QuickStep-AlphaVinyl teammates by raising his arms in celebration as well.

The victory will also act as a welcome morale boost for the Belgian squad after Evenepoel’s second place in the opening Itzulia time trial at the hands of Roglič, as well as QuickStep-AlphaVinyl’s current below-expectations cobbled Classics campaign this spring.

For Alaphilippe, unlucky himself with a mechanical on the opening time trial, his faultlessly-delivered triumph in Spain puts him on track too, for the Ardennes Classics at the end of this month. 

But in recognition of Evenepoel’s help, Alaphilippe both quickly searched out his Belgian teammate for a victory hug after the finish, and then paid him tribute when talking to the media.

“Remco did a great job setting me up, thanks to his work I had the perfect leadout,” the 29-year-old told reporters.

The  third Frenchman in four Itzulia finishes, as it happens, to win at Viana after Laurent Jalabert (1997), and Pascal Herve (1998), Alaphillipe said it was a “nice finale, it had three technical corners and you had to be well-placed. Though’ one point I  thought the break would stay away because not many teams wanted to work behind.”

How it unfolded

The day’s flipside for Alaphillipe’s joy at taking his first victory as 2021 World Champion was the massive disappointment for Kern Pharma racer Ibon Ruiz, whose 200-kilometre bid for glory on the rolling stage from Leitza to Viana only collapsed less than 500 metres from the line.

Ruiz was part of a four-man move that had moved away early on the longest stage of the 2022 Itzulia Basque Country, in a break made up entirely of ProTeam racers and included Julen Amezqueta (Caja Rural), Ander Okamika (Burgos-BH) and Ibai Azurmendi (Euskaltel - Euskadi).

Ruiz was able to claim the King of the Mountains title as the four surged to a five-minute lead, and as a largely uneventful stage reached its final 30 kilometres, he was the fastest to the top of the long slopes of the last third-category climb, the Aguilar Gaina.

A little further on, though, when Ruiz launched a softball attack that left the other three breakaways hesitating behind, the lead was quickly evaporating.

And for all the Basque TV commentators enthusiasm at a local rider from a local team possibly taking a notable solo success, the GC riders teams produced a sustained and ferocious acceleration in the final five kilometres and Ruiz's effort collapsed within sight of the finish. After which QuickStep-AlphaVinyl took over, and Alaphilippe was poised to pounce for the win.