Julian Alaphilippe wins Itzulia Basque Country stage two
Julian Alaphilippe out sprinted a select group of climbers in Bermeo to take his second successive stage win and retain the overall lead of Itzulia Basque Country.
Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors), Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo), Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) and Mikel Landa (Movistar) broke clear on the San Pelaio climb with 7km remaining, but following the descent the three climbers never stood a chance against the stronger Frenchman in the sprint.
Their lead was down to under a minute and started tumbling as the stage reached 25km to go, with Astana, Movistar, Quick-Step Floors and LottoNL-Jumbo taking turns to notch up the pace of the peloton.
With 17.5km remaining and the breakaway eyeing the stage victory, the juking and attacking began, as Verona and Lopez put in digs with the latter's sticking.
Lopez was away for a little while until the Team Sky rider and the remaining breakaway were swept up just before San Pelaio with 9km to go.
As they hit the lower slopes of San Pelaio, sprinter Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) attacked as the gradient kicked up but within a few hundred metres he'd been reeled in by Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing) and Alaphilippe.
Matthews tried again but was clearly struggling, and was enveloped by the peloton of climbers.
Best Young Rider, Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors), launched his bid on the steepest part of the climb but was countered by teammate Alaphilippe.
Roglic, Landa and Gorka Izagirre chased the race leader to create a stellar leading group of four that moved clear in the final kilometre of the climb and only extended the gap on the damp descent to the finish.
The final couple of kilometres at the bottom of the climb were technical and Alaphilippe was perfectly positioned after the last right hand turn with 200 metres to go.
The punchy Frenchman opened his sprint and was never challenged by the three climbers to take his second successive stage win and keep the leaders jersey.
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| Julian Alaphilippe gets the better of Primoz Roglic for the second sprint finish in a row at Itzulia Basque Country 2018 Photo credit: inthebunch.co.za |
The Race
The break didn't go until the first categorised climb of the day with 60km gone in the race. The combination of strong cross winds and the gradients of the category three Natxitua split the peloton, resulting in an unusual breakaway containing a fair number of general classification hopefuls - Carlos Verona (Mitchelton-Scott), Michael Woods (EF Education First-Drapac p/b Cannondale), Alessandro De Marchi and Damiano Caruso (BMC Racing), Daniel Navarro (Cofidis), David Lopez and Tao Geoghegan Hart (Team Sky), Alexis Vuillermoz (AG2R), Mark Padun (Bahrain-Merida) and Tsgabu Grmay and Ruben Guerriero (Trek-Segafredo). There was a hectic chase to catch the group but to no avail, as the gap opened to two minutes.Their lead was down to under a minute and started tumbling as the stage reached 25km to go, with Astana, Movistar, Quick-Step Floors and LottoNL-Jumbo taking turns to notch up the pace of the peloton.
With 17.5km remaining and the breakaway eyeing the stage victory, the juking and attacking began, as Verona and Lopez put in digs with the latter's sticking.
Lopez was away for a little while until the Team Sky rider and the remaining breakaway were swept up just before San Pelaio with 9km to go.
As they hit the lower slopes of San Pelaio, sprinter Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) attacked as the gradient kicked up but within a few hundred metres he'd been reeled in by Dylan Teuns (BMC Racing) and Alaphilippe.
Matthews tried again but was clearly struggling, and was enveloped by the peloton of climbers.
Best Young Rider, Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors), launched his bid on the steepest part of the climb but was countered by teammate Alaphilippe.
Roglic, Landa and Gorka Izagirre chased the race leader to create a stellar leading group of four that moved clear in the final kilometre of the climb and only extended the gap on the damp descent to the finish.
The final couple of kilometres at the bottom of the climb were technical and Alaphilippe was perfectly positioned after the last right hand turn with 200 metres to go.
The punchy Frenchman opened his sprint and was never challenged by the three climbers to take his second successive stage win and keep the leaders jersey.
Stage Two Result
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) in 4:11:47
2. Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo)
3. Gorka Izagirra (Bahrain-Merida)
4. Mikel Landa (Movistar) all same time
5. Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 15"
6. Eduard Prades (Euskadi-Murias)
7. Pello Bilbao (Astana)
8. Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ)
9. Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors)
10. Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) all same timeGeneral Classification
1. Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) in 8:29:13
2. Primož Roglič (LottoNL-Jumbo) at 8"
3. Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) at 39"
4. Mikel Landa (Movistar) at 43"
5. Pello Bilbao (Astana) at 54"
6. Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 58"
7. Enric Mas (Quick-Step Floors) at 58"
8. Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) at 58"
9. Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ) at 58"
10. Romain Bardet (AG2R) at 58"
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