Houle stays active at Itzulia Basque Country by racing in day’s breakaway
Photo by:
Sirotti
The day after achieving a career-high WorldTour stage fourth place in Itzulia Basque Country, Hugo Houle was in the breakaway of Wednesday’s third stage. Pello Bilbao took the day’s flowers in a tight contest with Tuesday’s victor, Julian Alaphilippe. Primož Roglič retained the race lead. Michael Woods was top Canadian.
#Itzulia, Stage 3. Bilbao beats Alaphilippe by ½ of a bike length. pic.twitter.com/DhRP6HvL40
— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) April 6, 2022
The Course
Wednesday’s route contained more climbing that Tuesday’s lumpy affair. Two long finishing circuits each contained the Opellora (1.1 km of 13.1 percent) and the Ozeka (3.6 km of 7.3 percent) climbs. There were more ripples after the final ascent of Ozeka and before the line in Amurrio.
More hills and more steep gradients at #Itzulia, which travels today from Laudio to Amurrio (181.7km) – a stage which could bring some significant changes to the general classification. pic.twitter.com/ZncbMPqjiL
— Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team (@qst_alphavinyl) April 6, 2022
Houle and his breakmates Jan Polanc and Cristian Rodriguez went clear after the opening climb of Altube and rolled up a maximum gap of 3:50.
Our riders have been super active in the first 50 kms in #Itzulia:
Canadian Alex Cataford was fighting to form a breakaway but was caught and now it’s his fellow Canadian Hugo Houle on the move with a 35 sec gap (and a partner). pic.twitter.com/kKlD57jytQ
— Israel – Premier Tech / Israel Cycling Academy (@IsraelPremTech) April 6, 2022
Jumbo-Visma and Ineos Grenadiers were both interested in keeping tabs on the trio. When the break hit the first passage of Opellora with 68 km to go, its gap was 2:18. Houle soon lost contact.
On Ozeka I, Rodriguez left Polanc behind and started to think about nabbing the polka dot jersey from Ibon Ruiz. With 58 km remaining, Houle was returned back to the bunch.
The peloton relaxed before the last circuit. Rodriguez carried on alone, his lead blooming to 4:00. Again Ineos drove the train up the Ozeka, and by its crest Rodriguez’s lead was cut to 2:00, but the TotalEnergies rider was a single point from the KOM lead.
On Ozeka II, Adam Yates made a surge, creating a select dozen containing Julian Alaphilippe, Primož Roglič, Remco Evenepoel, Jonas Vingegaard and Enric Mas. Rodriguez was barely hanging on up front, but he clung tenaciously to the lead and will wear the dots on Thursday.
Twenty-six kilometers remained. After the Roglič group grew, Rodriguez was caught with 17 km to ride. Several attacks on the final lumps thinned out the group once more, with Bilbao surging several times.
As Evenepoel pulled into the final kilometer, Yates suffered a terribly unfortunate flat times. In the final dust up, Bilbao emerged victorious, Alaphilippe was runner-up and Ineos didn’t have a rider in the top 10.
The hills of Northern Spain continue on Thursday’s fourth stage.
2022 Itzulia Basque Country Stage 3
1) Pello Bilbao (Spain/Bahrain-Victorious) 4:35:24
2) Julian Alaphilippe (France/Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) s.t
3) Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) s.t.
36) Michael Woods (Canada/Israel-Premier Tech) +2:25
2022 Itzulia Basque Country
1) Primož Roglič (Slovenia/Jumbo-Visma) 9:49:47
2) Remco Evenepoel (Belgium/Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl) +0:05
3) Alexandr Vlasov (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:14
