1 week Ago
João Almeida has claimed a stunning overall victory in the Itzulia Basque Country , shredding the GC field on a brutally tough day to both claim a second stage win and simultaneously become Portugal's first ever overall winner of the 101-year-old race. Enric Mas (Movistar) and Almeida attacked from a small lead group with 5.5kms to go, with Almeida then comfortably outsprinting Mas at the finish to take his second stage in three days.
Stage 5 winner Ben Healy (EF Education-EasyPost ), in the breaks all day and having made much of the running in the late climbs, finished third, 13 seconds back. Overall, Almeida succeeded his teammate Juan Ayuso as the overall winner of Itzulia Basque Country, with Mas moving up second place on GC thanks to his strong last day of racing. Longstanding early leader Max Schachmann (Soudal-QuickStep) claimed third.
UAE Team Emirates dominated a ultra-dificult rain-soaked stage with nearly 4,000 metres of vertical climbing, as Almeida personally ripped a reduced bunch apart on the race's hardest ascent, the cat.1 Izua and then led the pursuit of lone breakaway Healy. Having caught the Irishman 20 kilometres from the line, Almeida then followed Mas when the Movistar rider raised the pace on a short kicker in the finish town of Ermua.
He then outsprinted the Spaniard for his first WorldTour stage race win since the Tour de Pologne back in 2021. More later..
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