Jon Izagirre wins Tour of the Basque Country with last stage raid
Astana finally able to break Bora-Hansgrohe stranglehold
Bora-Hansgrohe won four of the 2019 Tour of the Basque Country’s six stages and had two riders in the yellow leader’s jersey, but on Saturday Astana finally solved the German team’s puzzle, as Adam Yates won the final stage of the WorldTour stage race and Jon Izagirre earned the title.
#Itzulia That winning feeling ??? pic.twitter.com/4iA2X6qSY3
— Mitchelton-SCOTT (@MitcheltonSCOTT) April 13, 2019
Izagirre and teammate Jakob Fuglsang were part of a high-powered move that broke free midway through the race after an early breakaway was scooped up.
The day’s course threw six categorized climbs at the riders over 118.2-km.
The 59th #itzulia concludes today with a short (118.2 kilometers) but demanding stage starting and finishing in Eibar and comprising no less than six classified climbs and a small "wall" just four kilometers from the line. pic.twitter.com/Te8JnhMRzX
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) April 13, 2019
Winner of three of the first four stages, Max Schachmann had faded on Friday’s mountain stage, but his teammate and compatriot Emanuel Buchmann made Astana’s bid to crack Schachmann look foolish; Buchmann took over the lead with a great winning move no one could peg back. Izagirre was 54-seconds behind Buchmann, having been 53-seconds in arrears of Schachmann.
On Saturday Izagirre, Fuglsang, Yates, Dan Martin and Martin’s impressive young Slovenian teammate Tadej Pogačar bounced away from the yellow jersey group and loped over four climbs, Yates taking over the King of the Mountains jersey along the way.
Martin, 36-seconds behind Izagirre, tried to distance the Basque but could not. Martin stood on his first final podium of the season as runner-up. Fuglsang rounded out the podium. Yates attacked to take his third road stage victory of the season. He came fifth on GC, having shipped a bit of time on Stage 2 after an untimely flat tire before the finale.
Yates, Martin, Fuglsang and Buchmann will contest the Tour de France, while Izagirre is off to the Giro with Angel Lopez, the other Astana rider to win a 2019 WorldTour stage race. It’s been a fine season for Astana.
ASTANA ? GC in 2019
Comunitat Valenciana — I.Izagirre
Murcia — L.L.Sanchez
Colombia 2.1 — M.A.Lopez
Provence — G.Izagirre
Oman — Lutsenko
Andalucia — Fuglsang
Rwanda — Kudus
Catalunya — M.A.Lopez
Itzulia —I.Izagirre— ammattipyöräily (@ammattipyoraily) April 13, 2019
2019 Itzulia Basque Country Stage 6
1) Adam Yates (Great Britain/Mitchelton-Scott) 2:59:46
2) Dan Martin (Ireland/UAE-Emirates) +0:01
3) Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark/Astana) s.t.
2019 Itzulia Basque Country Final GC
1) Jon Izagirre (Spain/Astana) 19:24:09
2) Dan Martin (Ireland/UAE-Emirates) +0:29
3) Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark/Astana) +0:36
4) Emanuel Buchmann (Germany/Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:43
5) Adam Yates (Great Britain/Mitchelton-Scott) +0:51
6) Tadej Pogačar (Slovenia/UAE-Emirates) +1:56
7) Mikel Landa (Spain/Movistar) +2:56
8) Mikel Nieve (Spain/Mitchelton-Scott) +3:25
9) Enric Mas (Spain/Deceuninck-Quick Step) +4:27
10) Hugh Carthy (Great Britain/EF Education First) +5:30
