Itzulia Basque Country: Carlos Rodriguez solos to first pro win on stage 5

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Remco Evenepoel (QuickStep-AlphaVinyl) moved into the overall lead at Itzulia Basque Country after a breathless finale to stage 5 in Mallabia, where Carlos Rodríguez (Ineos Grenadiers) survived from the break of the day to claim the first victory of his professional career.

The race ignited 3km from the summit of the penultimate climb of Karabieta, when Evenepoel launched a searing acceleration that distanced yellow jersey Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) and turned the race on its head.

Evenepoel was joined by Daniel Martinez (Ineos Grenadiers), Aleksandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe), Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious), Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), Enric Mas (Movistar) and Ion Izagirre (Cofidis), and the Belgian was soon to be seen gesturing for greater collaboration in the group.

In truth, some were struggling to match his acceleration, while Vingegaard was on policing duty for Roglič. Evenepoel, not always at ease on the steep slopes of the Basque Country, found a gradient to his liking here, and his sheer power helped to propel the group clear. They would crest the summit with 13km remaining with over half a minute in hand on the struggling Roglič.

That advantage stretched out towards a minute over the other side, where Evenepoel continued to pile on the pressure. Behind, Sebastien Reichenbach (Groupama-FDJ) was the only pace-setter, working on behalf of his leader David Gaudu.

Out in front, meanwhile, the earlier escapee Rodríguez had distanced his companion Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) in the final 600 metres of the Karabieta, having followed team orders to sit on the dangerman’s wheel for much of the final 50km. The 21-year-old Rodríguez pedalled smoothly on the shallow lower slopes, and then battled gamely to keep his gear turning over on the wickedly-steep and rain-slicked kick to the finish in Mallabia, just about holding off his pursuers.

Martínez came past Evenepoel to win the sprint for second place, seven  seconds down on his teammate, though there was late drama on the 16 per cent slopes as Vingegaard and Vlasov became entangled and crashed in the final 50 metres. Both men were forced to walk their bikes across the finish line.

A tired Roglič, meanwhile, came home over a minute down at the rear of a group that also included Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers), and the yellow jersey now passes to Evenepoel ahead of Saturday’s tough final stage.

Evenepoel carries a lead of just two seconds over Martínez into the stage, with Izagirre now third at 21 seconds and Vlasov fourth at 22 seconds. Roglič, who had led since the opening time trial, drops to eighth at 1:05.

“We raced good with the whole team: Jonas was in front, it went the way actually we wanted,” Roglič said afterwards, though his fatigue was evident. “I feel tired. Today was super hard, I could barely come to the finish.”

How it unfolded

“Today it’s hard all day,” Vlasov said at the start in Zamudio, though the Bora-Hansgrohe rider could probably have said something similar ahead of any stage this week. Itzulia Basque Country offers a challenge like no other, and the racing was again frantic in the opening kilometres of stage 5.

Tao Geoghegan Hart (Ineos Grenadiers) was among the initial attackers, but the bunch stayed intact despite the brisk early pace, and Jan Polanc (UAE Team Emirates) led the race over the first climb of Paresi. Undeterred, Geoghegan Hart went on the offensive again over the other side, this time in the company of Gino Mäder (Bahrain Victorious) but the Briton was not granted much leeway.

The break of the day eventually took shape on the category 3 climb to Bedarona with 100km to go, but they had to battle for quite some time to establish an advantage. Pello Bilbao (Bahrain Victorious) was the main aggressor, and he led over the summit, bringing Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), Sergio Samitier (Movistar), Lucas Hamilton (BikeExchange-Jayco), Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma), Kenny Elissonde (Trek-Segafredo) and Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) with him.

The presence of Bilbao, who began the day just 19 seconds down on Roglič, meant that this move was being fiercely pursued. When the Basque sat up ahead of the climb to Gontzagariaga, however, the pace behind relented and the escapees padded their advantage out accordingly as the ascent began. 

“I didn’t find the optimum situation to try this long attack but Marc showed he has great legs,” Bilbao said afterwards.

Kuss later knocked off his effort to wait for the peloton, but Soler, Rodríguez, Samitier, Hamilton and Elissonde pressed on, building a lead of three minutes by the summit of the Gontzagariaga. The unfortunate Hamilton crashed out of the move on the descent, and the break was whittled down still further on the climb of Trabuka, where Soler and Rodriguez forged clear of Elissonde and Samitier.

Soler, 14th at 1:08 at the start, was now the virtual race leader and he had an unwilling accomplice in Rodríguez. Much to Soler’s annoyance, Rodríguez sat on his wheel rather than contribute to the pace-making, but they still had four minutes on the peloton with 50km remaining. Under the weight of Bora-Hansgrohe and Bahrain Victorious’s pace-making, that buffer began to shrink on the approach to the category 2 ascent of Karabieta, and it crumbled further once the stiff ascent began.

The key moment of the stage came a little over midway up the climb, when Evenepoel unleashed a fearsome acceleration that only six riders could follow: Martinez, Vlasov, Bilbao, Vingegaard, Mas and Ion Izaggire.

Spotting that Roglič had been distanced, Evenepoel waved impatiently for more collaboration from his companions, but his initial onslaught had stung, as Bilbao explained afterwards. “We needed to do such a big effort in the last climb we were not able to keep a decent rhythm on the run-in to the finish,” he said.

Even so, the Evenepoel group had half a minute in hand on Roglič when they crested the summit, and the Belgian was equally whole-hearted in his pace-making on the way down the other side.

Out in front, Rodríguez had danced clear of Soler near the summit. He began the descent with 37 seconds in hand on Evenepoel, et al, and he still held most of that advantage as he faced into the final kick towards the finish in Mallabia.

Vlasov tried to escape the chase group beneath the flamme rouge, but Evenpoel was wise to the danger, and he then opted to control affairs from the front on the stinging final ramps. He couldn’t quite match Martínez’s surge in the closing metres, conceding two seconds to the Colombian, but he did enough to take the yellow jersey of race leader.

Evenepoel carries a slender lead into the final stage of Itzulia Basque Country, though history shows that just about anything can happen on the road to Arrate. Or as Bilbao, now fifth at 22 seconds put it: “It’s a crazy stage tomorrow. The effort is going to be more continuous: no breaks and no time to breathe.”