Yesterday’s Stage - Lotto Jumbo’s Primoz Roglic took stage 4’s time trial around the City of Losada and with it, a tight grip of the Tour of the Basque Country as his nine second win from Patrick Bevin gave him a 34 second advantage over Quick-Step’s Julian Alaphilippe, with Trek-Segafredo’s Bauke Mollema a further 59 seconds back in third on the overall classification.
For much of the day Patrick Bevin (BMC) had looked as if he was going to take a huge win for the beleagured squad, with the New Zealander going off 15th fastest and sitting in the hot seat as 115 other riders came and went. Team Sky launched an assault on the Top 5 in looking for the stage win, but despite fine efforts, none of Vasil Kiryienka (3rd), Jonathan Castroviejo (4th), Michal Kwiatkowski (5th), or David De La Cruz (eighth) could usurp Bevin.
Alaphilippe himself put in a stellar effort to keep his chances of the overall victory more than alive, finishing eighth to put himself 59 seconds clear of the third with two mountainous stages coming including Saturday’s queen stage. Bauke Mollema’s ninth on the day was a fine ride that means he now sits on the podium, although the time trial has compacted the field with a lot of climbers all within touching distance of each other as the top 10 shows.
Stage Results
- Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) 0:22:26
- Patrick Bevin (BMC Racing Team) 0:00:09
- Vasil Kiryienka (Team Sky) 0:00:11
- Jonathan Castroviejo (Team Sky) 0:00:14
- Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky) 0:00:20
- Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb) 0:00:36
- David De La Cruz (Team Sky) 0:00:37
- Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) 0:00:42
- Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) 0:00:43
- Damiano Caruso (Ita) BMC Racing Team
Top 10 - GC
- Primoz Roglic (LottoNL-Jumbo) 13:41:26
- Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors) 0:00:34
- Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) 0:01:33
- Patrick Konrad (Bora-Hansgrohe) 0:01:36
- Gorka Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) 0:01:42
- Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) 0:01:48
- Mikel Landa (Movistar Team) 0:01:51
- Pello Bilbao (Astana Pro Team) 0:01:57
- Nairo Quintana (Movistar) 0:02:08
- Ion Izagirre (Bahrain-Merida) 0:02:11
Today’s Stage - Vitoria-Gasteiz/Eibar (164.7 km)
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Back into the mountains after the time trial stretched the field and with all to play for. After leaving the start in Vitoria-Gasteiz, the first half of the stage, is, by these standards, relatively benign – there’s actually more descending than climbing with a steep drop coming after 70 kilometres before we start the serious climbing.
There’s then a slightly downhill and flat valley section, taking in the first of two intermediate sprints at Bergara before we have the first climb of the day, and it is a proper straightener. The Elousua Gaina (8.1km at 6.9%) ought to separate plenty of wheat from the chaff and after the descent there’s the second is then a valley ride that takes in the second sprint through Lolita, before the savage double-header of the Endoia Gaina (7km at 5.1%) and the Azkuri Gaina (5.5km at 7.6%).
The Finish
The descent of the Azure will be a crucial pressure point for the stage, but it is not a straight downhill – there is a nasty kick interrupting the rhythm – before the last 8 kilometres which also sees the road begin to rise to the line ever so gently. The finishing straight itself is not complicated; it runs through the centre of Eibar but there are no particularly sharp turns, so the winner will have a sprint for bonus seconds.
The Favourites
A breakaway is sure to fancy this stage and plenty of riders are now far down enough not to be a concern to the main peloton. Thomas De Gendt (Lotto-Soudal) needs mountains points before the queen stage in any case and we ought to see him try an escape once again. The same goes for Omar Fraile of Astana, although they have failed to make the break on two occasions so far this week.
Michael Woods could be interested in such a move for EF Education First, and Trek, who have attacked plenty, have Toms Skujiņš as an option that hasn’t been used yet.
From the favourites, the four riders that contested the second stage finish - Julian Alaphilippe, Primoz Roglic, Gorka Izaguirre and Mikel Landa – would all fancy their chances although attempts to drop the first two in the general classification have to be of interest to many in the Top 10.
