The Italian was one of the main animators on the hilly stage 5.
La Vuelta’s spell in the Basque Country continued Wednesday afternoon, with a stage between Irun and Bilbao, one of the cities that were on the course of the inaugural edition, back in 1935, when Gustaaf Deloor took the victory. Peppered with five classified climbs, the 187.2km course screamed breakaway, and despite needing more than one hour to form, a group eventually sailed away and managed to carve out enough of a gap to fight for the victory at the end of the day.
Riding his first Vuelta a España, Fausto Masnada was one of the eighteen riders to make it in the front group who stretched their initial lead of one minute to five minutes by the time they Alto del Vivero (4.6km, 8%) – the day’s main climb – for the second time. At that point, one rider was alone in the lead, while the group behind was fragmenting, our Italian being among those dropped. But Fausto battled admirably and after a terrific descent, he rejoined the chasing group with four kilometers to go and even launched a powerful attack in an attempt to bridge across to the front of the race.
As the others reacted, it all came back together under the flamme rouge and it looked like they would catch Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates), but a moment of hesitation among the chasers allowed the Spaniard to take the win. Masnada concluded four seconds in arrears, just outside the top 10, but took a lot of heart from his ride on the hilly roads to Bilbao.
“Tuesday was the worst day of my career, and I was extremely motivated today to leave that stage behind and show myself. It wasn’t easy, because we fought for more than an hour before a breakaway took off, but I gave my best there. On one hand, I am disappointed because I didn’t get a better result for the team, but this solid ride makes me more confident for the next stages, so there is a bright side after today”, explained Fausto at the finish.
Photo credit: ©Justin Setterfield / Getty Images
Fausto Masnada 
