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As it happened - A reduced sprint finish in the rain at Itzulia Basque Country stage 2

The route of stage 2 of the 2024 Itzulia Basque Country

The route of stage 2 of the 2024 Itzulia Basque Country (Image credit: Itzulia Basque Country)

Itzulia Basque Country - the complete guide

Itzulia Basque Country 2024 route

How to watch Itzulia Basque Country 2024

High stakes all around: Why the 2024 Itzulia Basque Country matters to Vingegaard, Roglic and Evenepoel

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Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 2 of Itzulia Basque Country!

We're just a few minutes away from the start of the stage in Irun.

Just one classified climb on today's stage, the hill of Saint-Ignace after 19.5km, which measures in at 2.7km long at an average of 5.1%.

The riders have already set off into the neutral zone before the start of the stage.

And stage 2 is officially underway: only 160 kilometres to go

2,300 metres of vertical climbing today, so although on paper it's a bunch sprint stage, the potential for breaks is large, and the terrain is tricky and technical throughout. 

A photo of our four leaders jerseys for the day, with Primož Roglič  (Bora-Hansgrohe) looking serious in yellow on the left, next to him Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) wearing the mountains jersey as he was second behind Roglič on Monday's one classified climb.

Five riders have managed to open up a gap in the opening five kilometres: that's  Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies), Enekoitz Azparren (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Ivan Cobo (Kern Pharma), Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH) and Xabier Azparren (Q36.5). 

150km to go

And if you were wondering if the two Azparrens in the break of the day were related, you'd be right: they're brothers. Xabier of Q36.5 is 25, four years older than Enekoitz.

We're heading rapidly towards our one classified climb of the day, the  cat 3 Saint-Ignace at km19.5 (2.7km, 5.1%).

And at the foot of the Saint-Ignace, the gap has now widened to 2:40.

The Itzulia has now crossed the border into the French Basque Country, with a first passage through the finish town of Cambo at km50. 

Bora-Hansgrohe take control at the head of the peloton, but they aren't setting anything like a chasing pace as they do so, and the gap for the break continues to rise on the Saint-Ignace climb to nearly four minutes.

Bol takes the maximum total points on offer on the climb – three –  ahead of Cobo and Vuillermoz.

48 seconds slower than Roglič in the opening TT, Xabier Azparren is the best placed of the five on the overall rankings, and thus is the race leader on the road.

Of the five, Vuillermoz is by far the most decorated, with a stage win in the Tour de France  on the Mûr de Bretagne back in 2015 his breakthrough win, but also a stage in the Criterium du Dauphine in 2022 in his palmares.  

130km to go

And here's a first shot of our break of the day

115km to go

Ion Izagirre, Jonathan Lastra, and Tom Paquot have been caught up in a crash in the peloton.

Meanwhile Bol stops in the breakaway for a bike change.

Movistar, Bora, and QuickStep all at the front of the peloton.

105km to go

The riders have passed through the first intermediate sprint of the day but we haven't had the result yet.

Here we go – Vuillermoz won the sprint ahead of Xabier Azparren and Enekoitz Azparren.

10, 6, 4 points for the trio.

Here's a look at the current GC standings and stage 1 results.

Primož Roglič won the opening time trial, beating Jay Vine and Mattias Skjelmose in the process. Check out the Itzulia Basque Country stage 1 results here.

3:40 for the breakaway now after passing the 100km to go mark.

Cobo is now struggling to hold on in the five-man breakaway.

90km to go

He's 15 seconds off the back now. The peloton remains at 3:40.

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The riders now taking on a hilly route to the south after passing through Kambo for the intermediate sprint.

They'll circle around to the east, then north, before approaching the town from the west to the finish.

Cobo now slowing up and waiting for the peloton after he was dropped from the break.

Remco Evenepoel racing in the peloton. He finished fourth on yesterday's opening stage following an early crash and now lies 11 seconds down on Roglič.

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80km to go

How to watch Itzulia Basque Country 2024

70km to go

The gap is gradually coming down, though there's a long way to go.

Some spots of rain falling now as the peloton closes to 2:45 down.

61km to go

Juan Ayuso among his UAE teammates in the peloton.

2:45 for the four-man break now.

The rain is falling harder now.

50km to go

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The four men out in the break still all together at the moment.

43km to go

The gap is coming down quickly now as the peloton speeds up.

A 42kph average so far.

31km to go

It's only coming down now as the riders take on more unclassified hills.

Soudal-QuickStep and Groupama-FDJ both up front in the peloton along with UAE Team Emirates.

25km to go

Bora-Hansgrohe now in the lead with Roglič up there.

A look at the peloton being watched over by the TV helicopter.

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Three Bora riders lined up in front of Roglič here.

A few more small hills and the day's final intermediate sprint left to go before the finish.

20km to go

The lead quartet still all together, though Bol is dropping away on this descent.

17km to go

The breakaway riders only have 25 seconds on the peloton now.

The peloton is now spread across the road with plenty of teams represented at the front.

15km to go

The peloton continues to shave seconds from the lead as we near the finish.

Uphill now and just a few kilometres to go until the riders tackle the intermediate sprint at Espeleta.

13km to go

Now AG2R and EF are taking it up at the front.

It's over for the breakaway as the four men are caught together.

3km to go until the intermediate sprint.

11km to go