Pais Vasco: Rodriguez secures overall title

Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) snatched the overall victory at the Tour of Basque Country from Sergio Henao (Team Sky) thanks to a gutsy ride in the tough hilly final time trial stage 6 on Saturday. Jon Izagirre (Movistar) took third place overall.

"Never in my wildest dreams could I imagine I'd win," said Rodriguez, 35, immediately after the race. "I developed as a rider at this race and its very important for me. I'd never thought I'd win it at my age. I'm thrilled.

"I came here in good shape, I felt good, but didn't expect to be at this level, such a high level. My rivals made this a very hard race."

Dutchman Tom Dumoulin (Giant-Alpecin) won the time trial, stopping the clock in a time of 28:46 after a perfectly judged ride along the 18.3km course. Dumoulin was one of three riders to break 29 minutes, along with runner-up Rodriquez with 28:50 and third placed Izagirre with 28:51.

"It was a difficult time trial with two very hard climbs in the second part. The first part was mostly descent. The irregularity of today’s course fits me well," Dumoulin said.

"I am very happy but surprised as well that I can compete on this level and even stay ahead of all the climbers. I didn’t start with a clear target to go for a good GC here, as we knew that a finish in the top 10 GC is very unlikely. That is pretty much the reason we didn’t waste too much energy in the past stages to really go for it in today’s time trial, which fits my upcoming classics ambitions, too."

Most riders switched bikes mid-course, opting for a climbing bike for the steep ramp to Aia after using a time trial bike on the early downhill and flatter sections.

Henao and Rodriguez, who took two stage wins this week, started the time trial on the same time overall but Rodriguez set a time of 28:50 during the time trial, while Henao suffered on the final steep slopes of the climb and finished 13 seconds down overall.

"I rode as if in a breakaway and gave it everything,” Rodriguez said. “I went close to my limits, just leaving enough so I didn’t fall apart in the final part. It as a good time trial for me, up and down a lot, it reminded me of the 2013 Tour de France [where Rodriguez finished third behind Chris Froome and Alberto Contador].

Izagirre’s third-place time in the time trial bumped him up into third overall at 29 seconds behind Rodriguez, while his teammate Nairo Quintana set a time of 29:16 and so finished fourth overall at 38 seconds back.

Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) looked to be on track as the virtual race leader during the earlier part of the time trial having started the day only seven seconds down on GC, however, he crossed the line in 29:29 and so slipped into fifth place overall.

Tejay van Garderen (BMC) finished outside of the top 10 in the time trial, in a time of 29:49. That left the American 11th overall.

How it happened

The riders lined up for the sixth and final stage of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco on Saturday morning to take on an 18.3km individual time trial that started on downhill and flatter roads but finished on a steep climb. It was a question of which machine to use for the stage; time trial bikes or road bikes (or both in some cases) because the final eight kilometres of the route were uphill. Some riders chose to start with a time trial bike and then switch to a road set up for the climb.

The peloton had a chance to preview the time trial course during the previous day’s stage 5 road race, won by Mikel Landa Meana (Astana Pro Team), because the race finished on the same ascent into Aia.

Henao wore the yellow leader’s jersey at the start of the day’s time trial, having taken the race lead after finishing second to Rodriguez in the stage 3 breakaway sprint. However, he was with the same time as Rodriguez, while Orica’s Yates sat in third place at seven seconds back and Quintana 12 seconds back in fourth.

Gorka Izagirre (Movistar) set a bench mark mid-race with the fastest time of 29:37 but that was soon broken by Rein Taaramae (Astana Pro Team), who rode in 15 seconds faster than the Spaniard with a time of 29:22.

Fabio Felline (Trek Factory Racing), who won the stage 2 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, was the next to move into the hot seat with a time of 29:09, showing his versatility. That time ended up putting him in sixth place on the day. The Italian’s time didn’t hold for long as Movistar’s Benat Intxausti came in two seconds faster with time of 29:07.

Dumoulin blasted up the hill and through the finishing straightaway as the first rider to break 29 minutes, in 28:46, and shortly after Izagirre slotted into second place five seconds behind the Dutch rider.

Former three-time world champion in the discipline, Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), stayed on his time trial bike for the entire race but finished with a time of 29:28, only good enough for 12th place on the day.

With two top overall all contenders; Henao and Rodriguez still on course, the uphill time trial still seemed wide open for the taking, though neither of them made it to the line as fast as Dumoulin.

Rodriguez was the closest with a 28:50, and when Henao crossed the line 13 seconds slower, he knew he had taken the overall win at the Vuelta Ciclista a Pais Vasco.

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