Itzulia Basque Country: Close but no cigar for Schmid

Itzulia Basque Country: Close but no cigar for Schmid

Mauro Schmid finished again on the podium at the prestigious one-week race, after a great display of teamwork and strength from his Soudal Quick-Step teammates that took our squad to the top of the team classification ahead of the last two days.

On a relentless stage four which comprised four climbs, including La Asturiana (7.4km, 6.7%), our team hit the front both before and after this demanding ascent, taking center stage at the front of the peloton. After pulling to bring Mauro in a good position at the start of the ascent, the Wolfpack regrouped on the incredibly technical descent to Santurtzi, signalling the start of a fierce chase behind the two riders in the lead.

Around half a minute separated them with ten kilometers to go, but Mattia Cattaneo and James Knox rode admirably, burying themselves for Mauro and reducing the deficit to just five seconds going under the flamme rouge. Another huge pull of the Italian brought the chasers within reach, but the duo barely made it and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) took the win, just ahead of the small group from where Mauro sprinted to third place.

“The guys worked hard for me today and I am grateful for that. On the climb I suffered a bit on the steep part, but I tried to ride at my own pace and towards the top I began feeling better. I was then lucky to have Mattia and James with me on the descent, they believed in our chances and gained time with each kilometer. I am disappointed that in the end it was so close, but we can be proud of how we raced. I am grateful to the boys, they were amazing”, said Mauro after the stage.

 

Photo credit: ©David Ramos / Getty Images

Race details

1 Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen
Jumbo-Visma
4:22:26
2 Mikel Landa Meana
Bahrain - Victorious
0:00
3 Mauro Schmid
Soudal - Quick Step
0:02
4 Matteo Sobrero
Team Jayco AlUla
0:02
5 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
0:02
6 Rigoberto Urán Urán
EF Education-EasyPost
0:02
7 David Gaudu
Groupama - FDJ
0:02
8 Felix Gall
AG2R Citroën Team
0:02
9 Clément Champoussin
Team Arkéa Samsic
0:02
10 Mattias Skjelmose Jensen
Trek - Segafredo
0:02
16 James Knox
Soudal - Quick Step
0:02
21 Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal - Quick Step
0:02
30 Andrea Bagioli
Soudal - Quick Step
0:46
80 Rémi Cavagna
Soudal - Quick Step
8:15
110 Martin Svrček
Soudal - Quick Step
12:46
122 Dries Devenyns
Soudal - Quick Step
12:46
1 Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen
Jumbo-Visma
17:08:56
2 Mikel Landa Meana
Bahrain - Victorious
0:12
3 David Gaudu
Groupama - FDJ
0:31
4 Matteo Sobrero
Team Jayco AlUla
0:33
5 Ion Izagirre Insausti
Cofidis
0:33
6 Enric Mas Nicolau
Movistar Team
0:36
7 Mattias Skjelmose Jensen
Trek - Segafredo
0:37
8 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
0:38
9 Simon Yates
Team Jayco AlUla
0:39
10 James Knox
Soudal - Quick Step
0:46
15 Mattia Cattaneo
Soudal - Quick Step
1:07
19 Andrea Bagioli
Soudal - Quick Step
1:23
20 Mauro Schmid
Soudal - Quick Step
1:39
59 Rémi Cavagna
Soudal - Quick Step
17:36
88 Martin Svrček
Soudal - Quick Step
28:56
126 Dries Devenyns
Soudal - Quick Step
46:59
1 Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen
Jumbo-Visma
67 pt
2 Mikel Landa Meana
Bahrain - Victorious
50 pt
3 David Gaudu
Groupama - FDJ
37 pt
4 Matteo Sobrero
Team Jayco AlUla
37 pt
5 Mauro Schmid
Soudal - Quick Step
36 pt
6 Alex Aranburu Deba
Movistar Team
34 pt
7 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
32 pt
8 Mattias Skjelmose Jensen
Trek - Segafredo
28 pt
9 Ion Izagirre Insausti
Cofidis
26 pt
10 Ethan Hayter
INEOS Grenadiers
25 pt
11 Andrea Bagioli
Soudal - Quick Step
23 pt
19 James Knox
Soudal - Quick Step
10 pt
21 Rémi Cavagna
Soudal - Quick Step
10 pt
1 Jon Barrenetxea Golzarri
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
29 pt
2 Alan Jousseaume
TotalEnergies
11 pt
3 Georg Zimmermann
Intermarché - Circus - Wanty
10 pt
4 Rémi Cavagna
Soudal - Quick Step
9 pt
5 Pierre Latour
TotalEnergies
7 pt
6 Txomin Juaristi Arrieta
Euskaltel - Euskadi
7 pt
7 Jonas Vingegaard Rasmussen
Jumbo-Visma
6 pt
8 Mikel Landa Meana
Bahrain - Victorious
5 pt
9 Cristián Rodríguez Martín
Team Arkéa Samsic
4 pt
10 Bauke Mollema
Trek - Segafredo
3 pt
16 James Knox
Soudal - Quick Step
1 pt
1 Mattias Skjelmose Jensen
Trek - Segafredo
17:09:33
2 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
0:01
3 Felix Gall
AG2R Citroën Team
0:13
4 Andrea Bagioli
Soudal - Quick Step
0:46
5 Mauro Schmid
Soudal - Quick Step
1:02
6 Attila Valter
Jumbo-Visma
1:05
7 Clément Champoussin
Team Arkéa Samsic
1:41
8 Igor Arrieta Lizarraga
Equipo Kern Pharma
2:35
9 Andreas Leknessund
Team DSM
3:40
10 Marc Hirschi
UAE Team Emirates
4:00
25 Martin Svrček
Soudal - Quick Step
28:19
1 Soudal - Quick Step 51:29:23
2 Jumbo-Visma 2:29
3 Movistar Team 3:28
4 EF Education-EasyPost 4:24
5 Cofidis 4:26
6 Team Jayco AlUla 5:25
7 BORA - hansgrohe 5:30
8 Team Arkéa Samsic 5:34
9 UAE Team Emirates 9:53
10 Groupama - FDJ 10:27

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