A searing late attack has netted Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) the overall of Itzulia Basque Country and the biggest win of his career, while Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos-Grenadiers) claimed the final ultra-tough stage.
On the hardest stage of Itzulia Basque Country and a day of non-stop attacking, the two young Spaniards broke away from race leader Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) some 16 kilometres from the line.
Rodriguez's and Ayuso’s unspoken alliance allowed the two to power into the finish line with roughly 40 seconds advantage on Skjelmose - Rodriguez taking the stage, and both moving onto the GC podium.
On the last day of intense racing, UAE’s superbly played tactics, with Marc Soler softening up Lidl-Trek’s resistance before teammate Ayuso finished them off, made for a thrilling finale.
But Itzulia Basque Country 2024 remains nonetheless severely marked by the mass crash at the end of stage 4, which saw 11 riders abandon, some with major injuries, including leading favourites Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) and defending champion Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike).
“Today has been a great day, but one where teamwork really counted,” Ayuso, recently second in Tirreno-Adriatico said.
“We got the riders in the break, Marc then got across and that was the bridge I needed. Without them, it wouldn’t have been possible.”
Compared with his difficult spring of 2023 where he suffered a tendon injury, this year could not be going better, he said.
“A year ago I was training on these same roads, curiously enough, as I was recovering from my injuries, and now I’ve got my victory here in the Basque Country."
“It’s a huge win. Getting my first overall stage race victory and in the WorldTour as well - it couldn’t be better.”
“It’s difficult to end this race in a better way. Obviously, if I’d got the overall I’d be even happier, but I'm still very happy with the stage. Juan deserved to win, he was very strong,” Rodriguez said.
“Our mutual interests worked well, and I got second overall; who’d have thought it?
"But I also want to use this moment to wish everybody who crashed out the speediest recovery, too.”
How it unfolded
Featuring over 3,400 metres of vertical climbing, the opening chapters of the daunting final stage were dominated by a huge 21-rider breakaway. One notable non-starter was Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck), the stage 3 winner and leader of the points ranking.
14 riders went clear on the opening ascent of seven, the Elkorrieta, and a further seven then quickly joined while crucially, race leader Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) was not amongst their number. Visma-Lease a Bike, on the other hand, had three riders, including former Vuelta a España winner Sepp Kuss and Tour podium finisher Stephen Kruijswijk, while Brandon Rivera (Ineos Grenadiers), 1:21 down on Skjelmose, was the best-placed rider overall.
The gap yawned open to more than three minutes, before stabilizing as Fabio Felline and Julian Bernard kept things initially under control for Lidl_Trek. The notoriously difficult Krabelin climb featured for the fourth time in as many years, though, and when GC dangermen Soler (UAE Team Emirates) bounded away from the pack, Lidl-Trek seemed powerless to stop him.
If Soler’s attempt to bridge across to the break ahead had all the feel of a major assault on the overall, almost simultaneously, eight riders sheered clear of the main move ahead. Kuss, who ended the day as the final mountains leader and Kruijswijk were amongst them, and so too were Gregor Muhlberger (Movistar), Esteban Chaves and James Shaw (EF Education First), Bauke Mollema (Lidl-Trek) - keeping tabs on things for Skjelmose - Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates) and Oscar Onley (Team dsm-firmenich-PostNL).
Soler, meanwhile, all but made it across to the eight, with only Lucas Hamilton (Jayco-AIUIa) for company at the top of the Trabakua ascent, with some 47 kilometres to go. After teammate Arrieta finally realised Soler was on his way, the young Basque helped his leader bridge across.
Onto the next classified climb of seven, the almost equally difficult Izua, and Soler blasted on after Arrieta’s contribution, with Geoghegan Hart once again responding to the call of duty to work for Skjelmose. The Dane himself then opened up the throttle with multiple digs to try to control Soler, only for Ayuso to enact the next phase of UAE’s masterplan by powering across from the pack.
Weakening slowly under the multiple assaults on his lead, Skjelmose came over the top of the Izua 20 seconds behind Ayuso and Soler, and after some limited support from Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) in his chase, the two groups finally refused, also sucking in lone breakaway Onley.
The six riders ahead - Onley, Skjelmose, Soler, Ayuso, Chaves, Rodriguez - jettisoned as much food as possible before the final ascent, the cat. 3 Urkaregi (5km at 4.6%), and Soler emptied himself for Ayuso too. Then, when Ayuso blasted away with 16 kilometres to go, only Rodriguez, on the hunt for at least a podium, could follow him. Skjelmose, meanwhile, found himself hobbled by Soler.
Ayuso and Rodriguez, widely considered the two young stars of Spanish stage racing, forged on regardless, worked well together and held a gap of 30 seconds by the summit of the Urkaregi. The two came into the finish town of Eibar with their mutual goals clearly decided, Ayuso swapping the BYR jersey for the overall victory and Rodriguez claiming both second overall and the second Itzulia stage win of his career.
Skjelmose fought all the way to the finish, trying to hold onto second overall by the narrowest of margins, but he was foiled even in that effort when Soler zipped past to take the final bonus seconds on offer and ensured the Dane dropped from first to third on GC. All in all, a stunning final stage to honour Itzulia’s centenary, then - but regrettably one which will likely remain at least partly overshadowed by the devastating events of Thursday afternoon.
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