País Vasco: Landa wins penultimate stage

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Mikel Landa (Astana) won stage 5 of the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco from Eibar to Aia with a well-timed and powerful attack on the final climb.

The Spaniard helped form a 30-rider break in the opening hour of the stage and broke free with Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Tom Danielson (Cannondale-Garmin) and teammate Rein Taaramae (Astana) on the final of three ascents of the Aia but dropped his companions inside the final kilometre. Wellens held on for second with Danielson in third.

In the race for the overall Sergio Henao (Team Sky) finished alongside Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) to retain his leader’s jersey. Nairo Quintana, however, was dropped in the closing stages and lost time to his nearest rivals.

How it unfolded

The first hour of the stage saw a large group break away and establish a lead of over four minutes, including Bruno Pires, Chris Anker Sorensen (Tinkoff), Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing), Giovanni Visconti, Igor Antón (Movistar Team), Carlos Betancur, Matteo Montaguti, Mikael Cherel (AG2R La Mondiale), Daryl Impey (Orica), Sébastien Reichenbach (IAM), Nick Van Der Lijke (LottoNL), Mikel Landa, Valerio Agnoli, Rein Taaramae (Astana), Tony Gallopin, Louis Vervaeke, Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Tony Martin, David De la Cruz (Etixx-Quick Step), Matteo Bono, Valerio Conti (Lampre-Merida), Tom Jelte Slagter, Tom Danielson (Cannondale-Garmin), Julian Arredondo, Laurent Didier (Trek), Omar Fraile, Antonio Molina, Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural-RGA), Yohan Bagot, Romain Hardy and Rudy Molard (Cofidis).

Team Sky and Katusha set about holding the break at a reasonable gap but with nine categorised climbs, including three lung-busting efforts up the final ascent to Aia, the break had to work through the day.

The harmony lasted until the first ascent up to Aia. By then the peloton were stretched out and at full throttle and the fight for positioning saw Trek Factory Racing’s Bauke Mollema and Fränk Schleck crash. Both were able to remount but a long chase ensued with Team Sky setting a relentless pace at the front of the peloton. Mollema would lose his top 10 standing by the end of the day.

On the Alkiza the gap had held at four minutes and by the time the Andazarrate was crested the leaders had lost another minute. Philippe Gilbert launched a speculative but ultimately fruitless attack and with 28 kilometres to go the gap was reduced to two minutes.

Vervaeke was the first to kick-off the attacks from the lead group with his teammates Wellens and Gallopin both well positioned. Lotto’s aggression came from a desire to shed the break of as many passengers as possible but it was Astana’s Taaramae who launched the most significant attack on the first ascent to the finish.

The Astana rider kicked clear just as the gradient pitched out at over 20 per cent and with elbows out and back hunched over his bars, he lurched to the summit with a small gap on the chase.

Lotto sprung into life on the descent with the Paris-Nice combo of Wellens and Gallopin latching onto the leader. Landa and Danielson made it a party of five soon after.

Back in the field, Michal Kwiatkowski, attacked with a dash of tactical improvisation, cutting through the remnants of the break before allowing Tony Martin to drag him closer to the leaders, and away from the yellow jersey. Having started the day 30 seconds off the leader’s jersey the Pole was a genuine threat to Henao but on the penultimate ascent to Aia his renegade attack began to falter as Movistar and Katusha drilled home their superior climbing prowess.

At the front of the race the leaders hit the final brutal climb with Gallopin already running on fumes and he was instantly dispatched with Danielson taking over at the front.

The veteran looked in control as he led up the steep banks lined with fans but with less than a few hundred meters to go Landa struck out. Danielson was forced to concede, first to the Spaniard and then to Wellens.

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