The Spanish Mikel Landa fell to the ground, broke his collarbone and joins the illustrious abandonments in this Itzulia
BARCELONA, 5 Abr. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The cyclist Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) won this Friday the fifth stage of the Itzulia, held between Vitoria-Gasteiz and Amorebieta-Etxano over 175.9 kilometers, in a select sprint in which he imposed his explosiveness and in which Maximilian Schachmann (BORA-hansgrohe) was third to stay 2 seconds behind leader Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) in the provisional general classification.
The new Itzulia began this Friday and will be held in two stages. That of Amorebieta, settled with a sprint and with hardly any changes in the provisional general classification, and the final this Saturday in Eibar, which promises to give war and be the final judge of an Itzulia that, for the moment, is led by Skjelmose.
The Dane from Lidl-Trek has just 2 seconds of margin over the German Maximilian Schachmann, who sprinted in Amorebieta to be third, almost second, and added 4 bonus seconds. And, in third position now, is the Spanish Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) at 4 seconds, with Kévin Vauquelin (Arkéa) fourth at 6″ and the winner of this stage Grégoire fifth at 8 seconds.
Everything is open for the final stage after a day that once again had scares and abandonments, the most important being that of Mikel Landa. In the end, in the fight for the stage, there were no more incidents and the young Romain Grégoire, just 21 years old, showed that he is part of the future of sprinting with an important victory, a ‘photo finish’ over Orluis Aular (Caja Rural -RGA Insurance), second. The sixth victory in his budding professional career.
And the peloton, with its Groupama-FDJ included, had to work very hard to put an end to several solo attempts in the final kilometers, such as that of Carlos Rodríguez (INEOS Grenadiers), that of Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) or that of Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious), all of them taking a few meters advantage in different solo attacks.
The group crowned together, but with only 25 units, the last climb of the day, a 3.4 kilometer summit of Muniketagaina at 7.3 percent average slope where Maximilian Schachmann, who was fifth overall, 6″ behind leader Mattias Skjelmose, already tried to attack alone. And, with Ayuso calm, it was his teammate Isaac del Toro, the Mexican, who joined McNulty in the UAE’s attempts to start the race, this new Itzulia without its big cocks, legs above.
MIKEL LANDA, ANOTHER VICTIM OF THIS ITZULIA
The Basque Mikel Landa (Soudal Quick-Step) left Itzulia this Friday with his teammate Gil Gelders, after both were involved in a fall in the fifth stage of the Basque round. Landa, current runner-up in the Volta a Catalunya last month, was taken to hospital and x-rays revealed that he is suffering from a broken collarbone. He joins Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Remco Evenepoel as the first swords of the platoon that say goodbye, injured, to this Itzulia.
–CLASSIFICATIONS.
-Stage.
1. Romain Grégoire (FRA/Groupama-FDJ) 3:43:28.
2. Orluis Aular (VEN/Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) mt
3. Maximilian Schachmann (ALE/BORA-hansgrohe) m.t.
4. Quentin Pacher (FRA/Groupama-FDJ) mt
5. ALEX ARANBURU (ESP/MOVISTAR TEAM) m.t.
-General.
1. Mattias Skjelmose (DIN/Lidl-Trek) 12:19:39.
2. Maximilian Schachmann (ALE/BORA-hansgrohe) a 2.
3. JOHN AYUSO (ESP/UAE Team Emirates)
4. Kévin Vauquelin (FRA/Arkéa-B&B Hotels) 6.
5. Romain Grégoire (FRA/Groupama-FDJ) 8.
…//…
8. PELLO BILBAO (ESP/Bahrain-Victorious) 15.