Itzulia Basque Country: Remco moves onto the podium
An undulating 160km stage that travelled from Irun to Kanbo, where a 350m uphill drag averaging 7% promised an exciting battle for victory is what the Itzulia Basque Country had in store Tuesday afternoon, when the peloton took on the race’s first road stage.
The rain which decided to make its appearance for the second straight day made for a very nervous peloton, and this led to numerous crashes in the last 15 kilometers. Fortunately, none of the Soudal Quick-Step riders were involved, and the team could escort Remco Evenepoel to the intermediate sprint, where the Belgian Champion snatched one second. This helped Remco move one place in the general classification, only ten seconds from the yellow jersey.
In the reduced sprint, Louis Vervaeke impressed with his fast turn of legs which netted him third, behind winner Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-AG2R), while Evenepoel concluded just a couple of places behind, in the same time.
Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images
Race details
| 1 |
Paul Lapeira Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team |
3:42:28 |
| 2 |
Samuele Battistella Astana Qazaqstan Team |
0:00 |
| 3 |
Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:00 |
| 4 |
Pau Miquel Delgado Equipo Kern Pharma |
0:00 |
| 5 |
Alex Aranburu Deba Movistar Team |
0:00 |
| 6 |
Guillermo Thomas Silva Coussan Caja Rural - Seguros RGA |
0:00 |
| 7 |
Valentin Retailleau Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team |
0:00 |
| 8 |
Gonzalo Serrano Rodríguez Movistar Team |
0:00 |
| 9 |
Brandon McNulty UAE Team Emirates |
0:00 |
| 10 |
Quinten Hermans Alpecin - Deceuninck |
0:00 |
| 26 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:00 |
| 38 |
Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:00 |
| 77 |
William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:23 |
| 88 |
Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:23 |
| 112 |
James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:54 |
| 138 |
Pieter Serry
Soudal Quick-Step |
2:02 |
| 1 |
Primož Roglič BORA - hansgrohe |
3:55:02 |
| 2 |
Mattias Skjelmose Jensen Lidl - Trek |
0:10 |
| 3 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:10 |
| 4 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
0:14 |
| 5 |
Jonas Vingegaard Hansen Team Visma | Lease a Bike |
0:15 |
| 6 |
Kévin Vauquelin |
0:16 |
| 7 |
Maximilian Schachmann BORA - hansgrohe |
0:16 |
| 8 |
Brandon McNulty UAE Team Emirates |
0:23 |
| 9 |
Bruno Armirail Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team |
0:24 |
| 10 |
Pello Bilbao López de Armentia Bahrain - Victorious |
0:25 |
| 18 |
Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:39 |
| 35 |
Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step |
0:55 |
| 68 |
William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step |
1:23 |
| 92 |
Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step |
1:49 |
| 106 |
James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step |
2:09 |
| 138 |
Pieter Serry
Soudal Quick-Step |
3:15 |
| 1 |
Primož Roglič BORA - hansgrohe |
25 pt |
| 2 |
Paul Lapeira Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team |
25 pt |
| 3 |
Jay Vine UAE Team Emirates |
20 pt |
| 4 |
Samuele Battistella Astana Qazaqstan Team |
20 pt |
| 5 |
Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step |
18 pt |
| 6 |
Mattias Skjelmose Jensen Lidl - Trek |
16 pt |
| 7 |
Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step |
16 pt |
| 8 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
15 pt |
| 9 |
Pau Miquel Delgado Equipo Kern Pharma |
14 pt |
| 10 |
Isaac del Toro Romero UAE Team Emirates |
13 pt |
| 1 |
Primož Roglič BORA - hansgrohe |
3 pt |
| 2 |
Jetse Bol Burgos - BH |
3 pt |
| 3 |
Ethan Hayter INEOS Grenadiers |
2 pt |
| 4 |
Iván Cobo Cayón Equipo Kern Pharma |
2 pt |
| 5 |
Jay Vine UAE Team Emirates |
1 pt |
| 6 |
Alexis Vuillermoz TotalEnergies |
1 pt |
| 1 |
Juan Ayuso Pesquera UAE Team Emirates |
3:55:16 |
| 2 |
Romain Grégoire Groupama - FDJ |
0:14 |
| 3 |
Lorenzo Germani Groupama - FDJ |
0:27 |
| 4 |
Isaac del Toro Romero UAE Team Emirates |
0:30 |
| 5 |
Gianmarco Garofoli Astana Qazaqstan Team |
0:40 |
| 6 |
Markel Beloki Fernandez EF Education - EasyPost |
0:57 |
| 7 |
Davide De Pretto Team Jayco AlUla |
1:08 |
| 8 |
Loe van Belle Team Visma | Lease a Bike |
1:08 |
| 9 |
William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step |
1:09 |
| 10 |
Iker Mintegi Claver Euskaltel - Euskadi |
1:24 |
| 11 |
Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step |
1:35 |
| 1 | BORA - hansgrohe | 11:45:52 |
| 2 | UAE Team Emirates | 0:23 |
| 3 | Bahrain - Victorious | 0:50 |
| 4 | Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team | 0:59 |
| 5 | Soudal Quick-Step | 1:03 |
| 6 | Groupama - FDJ | 1:06 |
| 7 | Lidl - Trek | 1:13 |
| 8 | Movistar Team | 1:14 |
| 9 | INEOS Grenadiers | 1:20 |
| 10 | EF Education - EasyPost | 1:53 |
