Lecerf attacks on final day of Itzulia Basque Country

Lecerf attacks on final day of Itzulia Basque Country

Elkorrieta, Azurki, Gorla, Krabelin, Trabakua, Izua, and Urkaregi were the seven classified climbs that spiced up the last stage of the World Tour race, held around Eibar. Hoping to take advantage of the rough terrain, a massive 23-man breakaway took off and opened a 3:30-minute gap which at one point looked promising, until it began to melt on the Krabelin, when the GC teams decided to ramp up the pace.

It was there, on the hardest ascent of stage seven, that William Junior Lecerf attacked and got a nice margin over the reduced bunch. The young neo-pro, runner-up in February at the AlUla Tour, stayed up the road until just before the top of the climb, where the favourites linked up with him.

On the next hill, several riders accelerated from the group and ended up fighting for victory, which went to Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers), while his countryman Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) wrapped up the general classification. Lecerf was our first man home, finishing Itzulia Basque Country also as Soudal Quick-Step’s highest-ranked rider.

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Carlos Rodríguez Cano
INEOS Grenadiers
3:37:13
2 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
0:00
3 Marc Soler Giménez
UAE Team Emirates
0:41
4 Mattias Skjelmose Jensen
Lidl - Trek
0:41
5 Oscar Onley
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
0:41
6 Bauke Mollema
Lidl - Trek
1:31
7 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
1:31
8 Pello Bilbao López de Armentia
Bahrain - Victorious
1:31
9 Esteban Chaves Rubio
EF Education - EasyPost
1:33
10 Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE Team Emirates
1:41
34 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
5:16
DNF James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
-03:37:13
DNF Pieter Serry
Soudal Quick-Step
-03:37:13
DNF Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step
-03:37:13
1 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
15:56:50
2 Carlos Rodríguez Cano
INEOS Grenadiers
0:42
3 Mattias Skjelmose Jensen
Lidl - Trek
0:43
4 Marc Soler Giménez
UAE Team Emirates
1:23
5 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
1:46
6 Pello Bilbao López de Armentia
Bahrain - Victorious
1:48
7 Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE Team Emirates
2:15
8 Kévin Vauquelin
2:38
9 Ion Izagirre Insausti
Cofidis
3:06
10 Alex Baudin
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
3:07
25 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
6:31
1 Alex Aranburu Deba
Movistar Team
40 pt
2 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
35 pt
3 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
34 pt
4 Carlos Rodríguez Cano
INEOS Grenadiers
31 pt
5 Mattias Skjelmose Jensen
Lidl - Trek
30 pt
6 Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE Team Emirates
28 pt
7 Marc Soler Giménez
UAE Team Emirates
26 pt
8 Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
24 pt
9 Kévin Vauquelin
23 pt
10 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
21 pt
1 Sepp Kuss
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
35 pt
2 Louis Meintjes
Intermarché - Wanty
20 pt
3 Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE Team Emirates
15 pt
4 Rein Taaramäe
Intermarché - Wanty
15 pt
5 Igor Arrieta Lizarraga
UAE Team Emirates
15 pt
6 Oscar Onley
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
14 pt
7 Marc Soler Giménez
UAE Team Emirates
14 pt
8 Esteban Chaves Rubio
EF Education - EasyPost
12 pt
9 Alan Jousseaume
TotalEnergies
11 pt
10 Eric Antonio Fagúndez Lima
Burgos - BH
11 pt
16 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
4 pt
1 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
15:56:50
2 Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE Team Emirates
2:15
3 Oscar Onley
Team dsm-firmenich PostNL
4:48
4 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
6:31
5 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
9:39
6 Gianmarco Garofoli
Astana Qazaqstan Team
12:42
7 Johannes Staune-Mittet
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
13:52
8 Igor Arrieta Lizarraga
UAE Team Emirates
17:14
9 Alexy Faure Prost
Intermarché - Wanty
25:04
10 Iker Mintegi Claver
Euskaltel - Euskadi
28:11
1 UAE Team Emirates 47:53:27
2 Bahrain - Victorious 8:30
3 INEOS Grenadiers 8:36
4 EF Education - EasyPost 9:43
5 BORA - hansgrohe 9:53
6 Lidl - Trek 9:56
7 Movistar Team 13:49
8 Team Visma | Lease a Bike 17:02
9 Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 17:59
10 Team dsm-firmenich PostNL 18:48

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