Over the first four stages of the Tour of Basque Country, we’ve seen how challenging and demanding each stage is. With two more days of racing remaining, the team is showing great momentum with two top 10 finishes and a second-place finish for Pello Bilbao on today’s stage.
The decisive move on a hard day of racing came from Pello Bilbao joining a breakaway of five other riders at the end of the final climb of Erlatiz. Emanuel Buchmann(Bora-Hansgrohe) attacked with just 2 km to go but was caught by Esteban Chaves (Team BikeExchange), who went over the top and looked to take the win. With 200m remaining, the group were all back together when Izagirre (Astana-Premier Tech) sprinted for the line and went head to head with Bilbao, narrowly beating him in a photo finish.
The move from Pello in the final breakaway moved him up to fourth in the GC, while Landa remains in the top ten with plenty still to play for in the last two stages.
Pello Bilbao
“We played our cards in the best way, and I tried to go in cold-blooded in the last kilometre because Ion was waiting for the last moment, and I decided to go on his wheel. I doubt I started it fast from the left side, but then I had to change the way and go from the right side and then I was too late. I thought that I passed him at the last moment and thought that I took the win, but I watched the repetition on the TV screen just a minute later, and we checked the photo finish. Ion took the win just by just 5 centimetres. It is a long time that I’m waiting for the home win, but Ion is a great rider too. I am glad for him as we know each other for a long time and we were teammates before as amateurs and did a lot of races together. He deserves this victory, and we have to remember that we are here for the overall. Until the last stage on Saturday, we will have a big fight ahead of us. I just want to send a message to all the fans when you lose a victory for just 5 centimetres. Not only when you win. This is the sport, and these are emotions. Two Basque riders racing on the highest level, and I hope that all our fans enjoyed this race, and I believe there will be more similar moments at this race.”
Mikel Landa
“We tried a lot, and all of our team were very active, and we tried to make the race hard in the final, and then we played our chances with Pello and me, and we were close to the victory. I think the last stage on Saturday will be a crucial one and everything could happen at the Queen Stage. We have Pello now in a bit better position, and we will definitely fight in our way, our tactics and until the last kilometre of the race”.
