photo credits @ Itzulia
Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost) claimed a solo victory in stage 5 of the Itzulia Basque Country today, after the Irishman rode clear of the day’s breakaway group along an uncategorized climb with over 50km to go, crossing the finish ahead of his closest rival Axel Laurance (Ineos-Grenadiers) and a reduced group of chasers by almost two minutes in Gernika-Lumo.
“I had good legs today and glad I could finish it off in the end like I did,” Healy said in a post-race interview. “We had two guys in the breakaway and it was a strong group, and we didn’t want to risk it, so I went in the tailwind, had good legs today, kept a gap and made it stick to the line.”
Meanwhile, Joāo Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) continues to lead the race by 30 seconds ahead of Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal-QuickStep) and 38 seconds ahead of Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe), after the trio finished safely in the reduced group.
Race Highlights
A flurry of attacks ensued over the first of four CAT-3 climbs, the Las Campas, but it wasn’t until 20km of racing was underway that a breakaway of six riders that included Healy and his teammate Alex Baudin and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious), who were later joined by Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team), Warren Barguil (Picnic PostNL) and Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) finally jettisoned the peloton.
In the meantime, UAE Team Emirates-XRG managed the pace at the front of the field, while the breakaway’s advantage hovered between two and three minutes, as the race approached the halfway point.
With 55km to go, the breakaway reached the first of the final uncategorized climbs, where Healy commenced his winning move, racing over the summit with almost a minute lead over his former breakaway companions, while later opening up his lead to 2:30 over the main field.
From there, a reduced peloton reeled in Amirail and slashed the gap to Bilbao, Baudin, Barguil and Alaphilippe to under a minute as they reached another uncategorized climb with 35km remaining.
Relying on his descending skill, Healy extended his lead to nearly three minutes over the field, while the four chasers were reabsorbed into the group as they reached the final ascent of the stage.
At one point, Axel Laurance (Ineos-Grenadiers) attacked from out of the peloton, but a quick response from Enric Mas (Movistar) brought him back into the fold.
Alex Aranburu was the next to go, followed by Lipowitz. But, the duo was quickly reined in, prompting Aranburu to attack again, who was soon joined by race leader Almeida and then the rest of the group.
Back up front, Healy continued holding his gap at more than two minutes, later crossing the finish arms aloft in victory.
Meanwhile, over the small climbs on the run-in to the finish, Laurance attacked again, this time gaining a few seconds on the field that seemed marginally content to let him go. The Frenchman held on to finish second on the day, crossing the line just one second ahead of the sprint for third, won by Velasco.
