60th Itzulia Basque Country (2.UWT) Stage 6 (Final) Ondarroa>> Arrate (111.9km)
Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma) takes for the second time the crown of the Tour of the Basque Country. The Slovenian superstar destroyed his rivals in a short, but grueling queen stage. Only David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) could still follow and received the stage victory as a courtesy from Primoz to keep them upfront the race and retake his yellow jersey. Many big names did not feel like waiting long before attacking in this short, but grueling ride. Richard Carapaz, Marc Hirschi, Hugh Carthy, and the young Belgian upcoming star Vansevenant, among others, anticipated the attrition early with many kilometers of climbing, yet it was not uphill, but downhill that the maps were reshuffled. The men of Astana dived like kamikazes into one of the many descents, Roglic and Gaudu followed in the wake of the light blue brigade, in search of a leading group. Leader McNulty, together with his teammate Pogacar, let himself be a bit surprised and was therefore dependent on chasing. Hirschi let himself down to his two mates, but he could not do much against the violence in the front of Astana, Movistar, and Jumbo-Visma. To make matters worse, McNulty had to release the role on the penultimate climb. Pogacar immediately took over the lead, but the Tour winner would never get to the front again until Roglic, Gaudu, and Carthy, who were the only ones left. On the steep final climb, Gaudu accelerated first, only Roglic was able to follow. They split the booty with a fist: Gaudu for a stage win, Roglic for his second overall victory. He also took the sprinters jersey and the KOM polka dot jersey!! His teammate Jonas Vingegaard took second in the GC and also the young rider jersey… What a result for the Dutch team Jumbo-Visma!!! Eddie Dunbar finished the tour as 10th best young rider…nearly 60 riders didn’t finish today…that’s how grueling it was. (Yesterday made a mistake as I thought today was the penultimate stage, it was the final stage and the so-called Queens Stage…my apologies for that)
