Ion Izagirre wins the Tour of the Basque Country

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Ion Izagirre (Astana) claimed overall victory at the Tour of the Basque Country after he placed fourth behind stage winner Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) on a breathless final leg around Eibar.

Overnight leader Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) was distanced on the category 1 ascent of Azurki by a five-man group featuring Izagirre, Yates, Jakob Fuglsang (Astana), Dan Martin and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates).

Although there were more than 65km to go, this move had the firepower to hold off a disorganised chase, where Buchmann had to shoulder the bulk of the pace-making on the remaining climbs.

Up front, Martin tried to distance Izagirre on the final classified ascent of Asensio, but was unable to break the Astana man's resistance. On the run-in to the finish, Yates took advantage of a short, unclassified ascent with 3km to go to punch his way clear, and he held off his fellow escapees by one second to claim the honours.

Martin won the sprint for second ahead of Fuglsang to secure second place overall, 29 seconds down on Izagirre. Fuglsang originally looked to have claimed the third step of the podium, 36 seconds down on his teammate, but the placing eventually passed to Buchmann after the commissaires amended his finishing time on the stage after he was misdirected in the final kilometre.

Buchmann had gallantly cut his deficit back in the closing kilometres and was poised to rescue a podium place only for his group to be sent down the deviation for race vehicles in the closing kilometre. Although the German quickly got back on track, he came home 1:36 down on Yates, which initally relegated him to 4th overall, 43 seconds down on Izagirre, and just 7 seconds shy of the podium.

Almost an hour after the finish, the results sheet was revised to place Buchmann third overall, 31 seconds down on Izagirre.

"Yesterday Buchmann went up the road and we knew today was the last chance to win," Adam Yates said afterwards. "I think Astana had the right idea, they wanted to win on the GC. It was around 60-65 kilometres to go and the pace was super hard but luckily I had some teammates there to really push the pace. From there, the five of us worked well and in the final there I attacked in the final three or four kilometres and managed to win." 

How it unfolded

At just 118km in length and with six categorised climbs on the agenda, Saturday's final leg of the Tour of the Basque Country lent itself to attacking racing, and so it proved. After snatching the yellow jersey with a solo stage victory on Friday, Buchmann looked well-placed to defend his buffer here, but he knew the Astana squad of Izagirre and Fuglsang were always likely to launch a concerted offensive.

There was a blistering pace on the three opening category 3 climbs, where an 18-man move managed to forge clear, with Alessandro De Marchi (CCC) leading over the summit of each ascent. Come the category 1 climb of Azurki, however, the Astana and Mitchelton-Scott-led peloton was almost upon them, and the GC contenders soon came to the fore.

The efforts of Astana and Mitchelton-Scott had already splintered the peloton into shards on the ascent when Jakob Fuglsang took it upon himself to go on the offensive with 65km remaining, and his teammate Izagirre soon bridged across to him. Buchmann, who had already lost his teammate Max Schachmann and Patrick Konrad, tried to lead the chase, but the German was unable to close the gap, and unable to follow, too, when Yates, Martin, and Pogacar clipped across to the Astana tandem.

At the top of the climb, Martin, Yates, Pogacar, Izagirre, and Fuglsang had a lead of 25 seconds on Buchmann, who initially tried to chase doggedly in the valley that followed, before eventually opting to sit up and wait for a larger group that contained his teammates Schachmann and Konrad.

With 50km to go, the Buchmann group trailed the leaders by a minute, and the virtual overall lead passed to Izagirre, who never once looked like passing up the opportunity to win his home race. The quintet remained in the lead over the ascents of Karakate and Asensio, while Buchmann's deficit gradually edged out towards two minutes, despite eventually receiving some aid from Mikel Landa and Movistar.

By then, the battle for overall victory was between Izagirre and Dan Martin, who gamely tried to drop the Basque on the final haul up Asensio. Although the Irishman briefly managed to slip clear over the top of the ascent, he was pegged back on the drop towards Eibar.

The short, unclassified climb near the finish, meanwhile, leant itself to the explosive talent of Yates, and the Briton duly punched his way clear to claim his third win of the year and seal 5th place overall in the process. "It was a crazy day, just like yesterday the pace was super high all day," he said.

It has been, by any metric, a fast start to the 2019 season, with Astana among the teams setting the brisk tempo. Izagirre's Tour of the Basque Country triumph was the team's 22nd win of the year, and his third, after overall victory at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana and a stage win at Paris-Nice.

Full Results

Stage 6 points classification

Stage 6 mountain classification

Stage 6 youth classification

Final general classification

Final points classification

Final mountain classification

Final youth classification