It was another exciting finale at the Itzulia Basque Country, resuming today with stage 4, starting and finishing in Santurtzi. 175.7km on a typical up and down course, with a main difficulty La Asturiana climb, which summit was around 15km to the finish.

It could be the day of a successful breakaway, but the five attackers were caught back with 27km to go before the start of the ascent, where the fireworks began.

After some hesitant attacks, it was up to the race leader Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma), to start a decisive move and gain a consistent advantage on the rivals at 20km to go.

The only one able to follow him was our captain Mikel Landa, who joined the Danish rider at the race’s lead. 

The duo battled on the 7.4km climb, with a maximum gradient at 14% and went head to head until the finish line, where the yellow jersey outsprinted the Basque champion, making two in a row, with Landa second again:

“When Vingegaard attacked, I tried to catch him no matter what. Until the final meters, I tried to have cold blood to beat him. We still have two stages left, and I will try again”.

Bahrain Victorious Sports Director Neil Stephens, praises Landa after the stage:

“The team worked well today. We always knew that the last kilometres would be a battle of the Titans, and it was like that.

Mikel showed once again he is in great shape. He responded to Vingegaard’s attack on the climb. They were head to head on the uphill and downhill. In the end, they had a minimal gap, but they managed to maintain it to the finish. It was a shame on the last corner, Vingegaard got in a good place in the corner and was able to beat him at the finish.

But looking at the positive side, we got more bonus seconds for the general classification.

Things are looking good. We are happy with the position we are in. Always look ahead and try to improve on that, but things are going well.”

After today’s stage, Mikel Landa still sits in second place overall, 12″ behind Vingegaard, and he increased the advantage on the third Gaudu (Groupama), +31″.

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