Tour of the Basque Country: Buchmann wins stage 5

Emanuel Buchmann continued Bora-Hansgrohe's string of success with a brilliant solo victory during stage 5 at the Tour of the Basque Country on Friday. The German rider attacked on the penultimate ascent and held his gap up the slopes of Usartza before descending into the city of Arrate to take the win by a minute over the chase: runner-up Jon Izagirre (Astana), third-placed Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) and fourth-placed Jakob Fuglsang (Astana).

Buchmann's dominant performance meant that he took the overall race lead from teammate Max Schachmann, who was distanced on the final climb. Buchmann now leads the race by 54 seconds over Ion Izagirre, while Schachmann, who won three stages, dropped to third place at 1:04 back.

"It's incredible. It's already the fourth stage win for us, and on the queen stage, and now with the leader's jersey, it's really cool," Buchmann said in a post-race flash interview.

"We will try everything tomorrow to defend the jersey. We have a really strong team here - maybe the strongest team in the race. Tomorrow will be another really hard day; everyone else will try and win this race so that it won't be easy. But we have a strong team, and I'm optimistic."

Usartza

The final climb of the Usartza was five kilometres with 12 per cent pitches half way up followed by lesser 8 per cent and 6 per cent grades all the way to the top before descending into Arrate.

Buchmann made his winning move on penultimate ascent Trabakua, and built his lead out to an almost impossible two minutes as he reached the base of the Usartza.

A chase group of 15 formed behind Buchmann that included many of the race favourites. Mikel Landa (Movistar) was the first to go, but Izagirre responded with Dani Martinez (EF Education First) on his wheel. The three gained only a small advantage, which was short-lived as Fuglsang led the chase and reconnected with them.

Although Schachmann held steady over the six climbs up until the Uzartza, he couldn't hold on any longer as the late-race attacks continued in pursuit of his teammate Buchmann.

Fuglsang was the next to go, and Landa was the first to chase, but Izagirre and Yates were quick to catch his back wheel. Yates and Izagirre jumped around Landa, and put distance on him, as they successful bridged across to Fuglsang.

The three were ultimately racing for second place, however, as Buchmann's gap held steady at 1:40 with 2km to the top.

Buchmann crested the climb and then dropped down into Arrate with the stage victory and became the new overall leader as Izagirre led the chase group across the line for second place and 1:08 back.

How it unfolded

The fifth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country was 150km from Arrigorriaga to Arrate, and the Queen stage, with seven categorized climbs: Morga (cat. 3 at 17km), Natxitua (cat. 3 at 53km), Bedaroma (cat. 3 at 58km), Arribinieta (cat. 3 at 87km), Izua (cat. 1 at 100km), Trabakua (cat. 3 at 120km) and the final ascent to the summit Usartza (cat. 1).

It was an aggressive start to the decisive race with several early but ultimately unsuccessful breakaway attempts.

A breakaway cleared the field over the top of the third climb, Bedaroma, with four men: Ruben Fernandez (Movistar), Mikael Cherel (AG2R La Mondiale), Alessandro De Marchi (CCC Team) and Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), but they were caught on the descent as teams Deceuninck-QuickStep set a fast pace at the front of the main field.

Deceuninck-QuickStep led the race over the fourth climb, Arribinieta, causing separations among the peloton. They ultimately set up their GC contender Enric Mas for a searing attack on the steeper slopes, which forced Astana to the fore to chase. A group of 20 chasers emerged behind Mas.

Mas started the day at 2:40 down in the overall classification, but the chasers tried desperately to bring him back on the descent. Once back in the fold, Luis Leon Sanchez (Astana) and Gregor Muhlberger (Bora-Hansgrohe) clipped off the front with the latter not working because his teammate Schachmann wore the leader's jersey in the group behind. Still, they gained 35 seconds, and then a minute with 51km to go.

A chase group of eight riders became established behind the two breakaway riders: Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe), Enric Mas (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), Carlos Quintero (Manzana Postobon), Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates), Gorka Izagirre (Astana) and Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar).

The main GC favourites were in position in the reduced main field and as they approached the cat. 1 Izua, Bora-Hansgrohe moved forward to try and take control of the race, bringing back the eight chasers. It was a short climb at only 4km but with brutally steep 20 per cent pitches.

Mas launched several attacks on the way up that put Schachmann into difficulty, but after each surge, the overall leader managed to muster up enough strength to claw his way back into the group.

Up in the breakaway, Sanchez attacked and dropped Muhlberger as they reached the summit of Izua. And once back in the main field, Muhlberger was there to help Schachmann over the climb.

Sanchez struggled to maintain a gap, which led to his teammate Izagirre going on the attack next. As they reached the top of the climb, Astana's relentless blows caused Schachmann to lose contact with the leaders. Not by enough, however, and he was able to catch back on when the road flattened out.

A new breakaway of three emerged with Buchmann, Sergio Henao (UAE Team Emirates), Valentin Madouas (Groupama-FDJ), who pushed their lead out to one minute over the 15-rider chase group as they neared the next climb, cat. 3 Trabakua, 6.6km with max grades of 12 per cent.

Buchmann made his winning attack 3km from the top, and then flew down this descent at 75kph as his lead grew to 1:50. Henao and Madouas remained between the leader and the reduced main field of favourites led by Astana, until they were caught before the final climb up Usartza.

Buchmann hit the bottom of the Usartza, and with more than two minutes advantage, all he needed to take the stage win and the overall lead, while the chasers raced for the minor places on the podium.

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