Fraile takes out intense País Vasco stage to Eibar
Roglic extends race lead
Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) tightened his grip on the overall race lead at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco, finishing second on the hilly stage to Eibar. His closest rival Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) cracked on the final climb of the day as Movistar blew the race apart and faded from the podium positions.
Omar Fraile (Astana) won the stage, dominating the sprint after the strongest of the overall contenders and a small group of quality riders from the breakaway came together on the category 1 Azurki Gaina climb and descent inside 20km to go.
Fraile made sure to position himself at the back of the rotation as Roglic, Mikel Landa and Ion Izagirre's Bahrain-Merida teammate Mark Padun worked to improve their respective overall positions.
Izagirre received a nice lead-out from his Ukranian teammate, but timed it wrong, giving Fraile the jump on the finishing stretch. Roglic smartly took the bonus seconds for second, padding his lead as his biggest rivals were also distanced.
Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo), third before the stage, finished in the first chase group timed at 1:27 and dropped down to fifth. Alaphilippe finishing a disappointed 2:14 behind, dropping from second to fourth overall, now 2:55 down on Roglic.
Izagirre and Landa's efforts moved them up to second and third overall, respectively, after finishing in the same time Roglic. Izagirre is at 2:13 with Landa at 2:17.
They will now try to take on Roglic on Saturday's final mountain stage with the steep uphill finish to Arrate set to decide the final overall winner.
How it happened
The 163km stage was anticipated to be a warm-up for Saturday's final showdown, with LottoNL-Jumbo expected to let a break steal the glory of the day. How wrong we were.
The only riders absent after the time trial were Michael Storer (Sunweb) and Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida), who headed home to treat a nasty saddle sore. Everyone else enjoyed another aggressive day of racing in the Basque sunshine.
A headwind on the high plateau made it difficult for attacks to get away but a 13-rider move was given its freedom after 35km. They quickly opened a 5:00 gap with little sign of nervousness in the peloton behind.
José Rojas (Movistar), Pierre Latour (AG2R La Mondiale), Omar Fraile (Astana), José Herrada, Daniel Teklehaimanot (Cofidis,) Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida), Jay McCarthy (Bora-hansgrohe), Tosh Van der Sande (Lotto Soudal), Michael Albasini, Carlos Verona (Mitchelton-Scott), Alex Howes (EF-Drapac), Jonathan Castroviejo (Sky), Jai Hindley (Sunweb) and Matteo Bono (UAE-Emirates) were the adventurers of the day.
Teklehaimanot was the first to be dropped as Movistar set the tempo behind, clearly with a plan of action for later.
The second half of the stage included three steep climbs and was ideal terrain for attacks. The first, the Elosua Giana, was 8.1km in length and saw Movistar turn up the pace, especially near the summit and over the top. The pace was also high in the breakaway with Rojas, Fraile, Latour, Padun, Verona and Castroviejo going clear. The leaders came back together on the descent and so did the peloton, with Roglic happy to see two LottoNL-Jumbo teammates get back on after momentarily being isolated.
There was a pause in the racing on the valley road but the Endoia Gaina - Azurki Gaina climbs came in the final 35km of racing, a tough double whammy, with a total of 12.5km of ascending.
Early on slopes of the Endoia Gaina climb, the Movistar team put its card on the table with Landa going on the attack. He was on a mission and after several accelerations, Julian Alaphilippe was dropped. Roglic, Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First-Drapac) and David De la Cruz (Team Sky) joined him and they pushed clear. Alaphilippe was suffering and deep in the red, with only Enric Mas to help him.
Uran and De la Cruz cracked, slipping back to the chasers and Quintana was not there but Landa pushed on, keen to earn as much time as possible and perhaps crack Roglic.
Verona – who earlier had exchanged heated words with Fraile - attacked on the Azurki Gaina. He got a gap but was soon caught as the attackers and the remains of the breakaway formed for the descent. The gap to the chasers was close to a minute, with Alaphilippe even further back.
Up front were Carlos Verona (Mitchelton-Scott), Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo), Mikel Landa (Movistar), Jon Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida), Omar Fraile (Astana), Jesus Herrada (Cofidis) and Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida).
Despite some attacks they stayed together with Fraile strongest and leading out the sprint to win by a couple of bike lengths. He was the winner of the day but Roglic now seems in total charge, with only Saturday's 122km stage and its eight nasty climbs standing between him and overall victory.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 3:53:49 |
2 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo | 0:00:04 |
3 | Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | 0:00:06 |
4 | Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott | 0:00:10 |
5 | Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
6 | Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team | |
7 | Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida | 0:00:25 |
8 | Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 0:01:37 |
9 | Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates | |
10 | Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb | |
11 | Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
12 | David De La Cruz (Spa) Team Sky | |
13 | Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
14 | Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo | |
15 | Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
16 | Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
17 | Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team | |
18 | Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Sky | 0:02:01 |
19 | Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors | 0:02:25 |
20 | Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors | |
21 | Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
22 | Dylan Teuns (Bel) BMC Racing Team | |
23 | Alexis Vuillermoz (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:03:58 |
24 | Eduard Prades Reverter (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
25 | Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
26 | Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
27 | Pieter Serry (Bel) Quick-Step Floors | |
28 | Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
29 | Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
30 | Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Trek-Segafredo | |
31 | Ilnur Zakarin (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin | |
32 | Garikoitz Bravo Oiarbide (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
33 | Igor Anton (Spa) Dimension Data | |
34 | Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
35 | Hermann Pernsteiner (Aut) Bahrain-Merida | |
36 | Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
37 | Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos BH | |
38 | Jesper Hansen (Den) Astana Pro Team | |
39 | Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
40 | Robert Kiserlovski (Cro) Katusha-Alpecin | |
41 | Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Eri) Dimension Data | |
42 | Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:04:05 |
43 | Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 0:05:42 |
44 | Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
45 | Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
46 | José Joaquin Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team | |
47 | Michael Woods (Can) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
48 | Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team | |
49 | Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
50 | Jan Polanc (Slo) UAE Team Emirates | 0:07:14 |
51 | Laurens ten Dam (Ned) Team Sunweb | |
52 | Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | |
53 | Maurits Lammertink (Ned) Katusha-Alpecin | |
54 | Sergio Pardilla Bellon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
55 | Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
56 | Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
57 | Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo | |
58 | Jan Bakelants (Bel) AG2R La Mondiale | |
59 | Floris De Tier (Bel) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
60 | Michael Matthews (Aus) Team Sunweb | 0:09:35 |
61 | Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
62 | Anass Ait El Abdia (Mar) UAE Team Emirates | |
63 | Jordi Simon Casulleras (Spa) Burgos BH | 0:10:36 |
64 | Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
65 | Jesus Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
66 | Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data | |
67 | Thomas De Gendt (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:15:31 |
68 | Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
69 | Johannes Fröhlinger (Ger) Team Sunweb | |
70 | Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott | 0:19:15 |
71 | Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team | |
72 | Chad Haga (USA) Team Sunweb | |
73 | Benjamin King (USA) Dimension Data | |
74 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky | |
75 | Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
76 | Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo | |
77 | Ian Boswell (USA) Katusha-Alpecin | |
78 | Luis Guillermo Mas Bonet (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
79 | Rafael Valls Ferri (Spa) Movistar Team | |
80 | Victor De La Parte (Spa) Movistar Team | |
81 | Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team | |
82 | Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
83 | Jon Irisarri Rincon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
84 | Enrico Battaglin (Ita) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
85 | Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin | |
86 | Simon Spilak (Slo) Katusha-Alpecin | |
87 | Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
88 | Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
89 | Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
90 | Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors | |
91 | Danilo Wyss (Swi) BMC Racing Team | |
92 | Brendan Canty (Aus) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
93 | Jesus Ezquerra Muela (Spa) Burgos BH | |
94 | Pablo Torres Muiño (Spa) Burgos BH | |
95 | Aritz Bagues Kalparsoro (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
96 | Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates | |
97 | Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | |
98 | Ben Gastauer (Lux) AG2R La Mondiale | |
99 | Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eri) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
100 | James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors | |
101 | David Lopez Garcia (Spa) Team Sky | |
102 | Willie Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin | |
103 | Matteo Bono (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | |
104 | Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
105 | Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
106 | Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates | |
107 | Dario Cataldo (Ita) Astana Pro Team | |
108 | Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Bahrain-Merida | |
109 | Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo | |
110 | Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | |
111 | Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team | |
112 | Eros Capecchi (Ita) Quick-Step Floors | |
113 | Simon Gerrans (Aus) BMC Racing Team | |
114 | Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data | |
115 | Yukiya Arashiro (Jpn) Bahrain-Merida | |
116 | Gorka Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | |
117 | Lachlan Morton (Aus) Dimension Data | |
118 | Christopher Juul Jensen (Den) Mitchelton-Scott | |
119 | Cyril Gautier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:19:53 |
120 | Sepp Kuss (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
121 | Nelson Andres Soto Martinez (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
122 | Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
123 | Rob Power (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
124 | Zhandos Bizhigitov (Kaz) Astana Pro Team | |
125 | Ibai Salas Zorrozua (Spa) Burgos BH | |
126 | Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
127 | Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
128 | Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
129 | Igor Merino Kortazar (Spa) Burgos BH | |
130 | Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) Team Sky | |
131 | Serge Pauwels (Bel) Dimension Data | |
132 | Paul Martens (Ger) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
133 | Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Team Sky | |
134 | Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
135 | Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Astana Pro Team | |
136 | Lukas Pöstlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
137 | Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo | |
138 | Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 0:19:57 |
139 | Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
140 | Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
141 | Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo | |
142 | Benoit Vaugrenard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
143 | Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
144 | Moreno Moser (Ita) Astana Pro Team | 0:22:05 |
145 | Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 0:23:15 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb | 3 | pts |
2 | Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 2 | |
3 | Jay McCarthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 3 | pts |
2 | Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb | 2 | |
3 | Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 25 | pts |
2 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo | 20 | |
3 | Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | 16 | |
4 | Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott | 14 | |
5 | Jose Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Credits | 12 | |
6 | Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team | 10 | |
7 | Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida | 9 | |
8 | Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 8 | |
9 | Rui Costa (Por) UAE Team Emirates | 7 | |
10 | Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb | 6 | |
11 | Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 5 | |
12 | David De La Cruz (Spa) Team Sky | 4 | |
13 | Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe | 3 | |
14 | Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo | 2 | |
15 | Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida | 6 | pts |
2 | Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott | 4 | |
3 | Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 2 | |
4 | Jonathan Castroviejo (Spa) Team Sky | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida | 6 | pts |
2 | Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott | 4 | |
3 | Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 2 | |
4 | Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Carlos Verona (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott | 10 | pts |
2 | Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida | 8 | |
3 | Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team | 6 | |
4 | Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | 4 | |
5 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo | 2 | |
6 | Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 1 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Mark Padun (Ukr) Bahrain-Merida | 3:54:14 |
2 | Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb | 0:01:07 |
3 | Jack Haig (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | 0:01:12 |
4 | Enric Mas (Spa) Quick-Step Floors | 0:02:00 |
5 | Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal | 0:03:33 |
6 | Alex Aranburu Deba (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
7 | Oscar Cabedo Carda (Spa) Burgos BH | |
8 | Amanuel Ghebreigzabhier (Eri) Dimension Data | |
9 | Pierre Latour (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale | 0:03:40 |
10 | Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | 0:05:17 |
11 | Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
12 | Anass Ait El Abdia (Mar) UAE Team Emirates | 0:09:10 |
13 | Tao Geoghegan Hart (GBr) Team Sky | 0:18:50 |
14 | Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
15 | Jon Irisarri Rincon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
16 | Steff Cras (Bel) Katusha-Alpecin | |
17 | Neilson Powless (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo | |
18 | Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | |
19 | Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Quick-Step Floors | |
20 | Aleksandr Riabushenko (Blr) UAE Team Emirates | |
21 | James Knox (GBr) Quick-Step Floors | |
22 | Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
23 | Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | |
24 | Sepp Kuss (USA) LottoNL-Jumbo | 0:19:28 |
25 | Nelson Andres Soto Martinez (Col) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA | |
26 | Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
27 | Rob Power (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott | |
28 | Fernando Barcelo Aragon (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias | |
29 | Remy Mertz (Bel) Lotto Soudal | |
30 | Rúben Guerreiro (Por) Trek-Segafredo | |
31 | Gregor Mühlberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe | 0:19:32 |
32 | Michael Gogl (Aut) Trek-Segafredo | |
33 | Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale | |
34 | Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ | 0:22:50 |
# | Rider Name (Country) Team | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Primoz Roglic (Slo) LottoNL-Jumbo | 17:12:53 |
2 | Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team | 0:01:57 |
3 | Ion Izagirre (Spa) Bahrain-Merida | 0:02:13 |
4 | Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Quick-Step Floors | 0:02:55 |
5 | Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo | 0:03:06 |
6 | Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe | 0:03:21 |
7 | Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team | 0:03:30 |
8 | Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Tea |