Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe) has claimed a dramatic downhill victory on stage 2 of the Itzulia Basque Country, from Viana to Leitza.
Schelling powered to the head of a front group of some 30 riders after a sketchy, very technical descent from the last climb of the day, the Arkiskil.
Second on the 193-kilometre stage was Matteo Sobrero of Jayco-AIUIa, with David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) in third.
After claiming the second win of his career, Schelling is now the new leader of the Itzulia Basque Country.
Despite taking his first victory at WorldTour level, Schelling was anything but happy with the risks caused by the multiple bends on the final descent, saying, “It was strange the UCI allows this kind of final because it was way too dangerous in my opinion.
“With one kilometre to go, it bundled up a bit, but I found space and started my sprint with 500 metres to go, I knew that with the corners in the end, nobody would pass.”
One of the few top names to fall off the pace on a day with an undulating but not excessively difficult final was stage 1 winner Ethan Hayter, dropped with around 45 kilometres to go,
Of those who benefited from a stage that was largely decided in the hair-raising last five-kilometre descent, GC contender Gaudu picked up a useful four-second time bonus thanks to his third place, while Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) claimed three in an intermediate sprint.
But barring Enric Mas (Movistar), who lost 11 seconds on the twisting downhill and defending champion Dan Martinez (INeos Grenadiers), who shed 30 seconds due to a late mechanical, the rest of the top names came through unscathed and ready for the tougher battles deeper into the race.
How it unfolded
No sooner had the flag dropped on the longest stage of the 2023 Itzulia Basque Country than six riders were off the front: Jesus Ezquerra (Burgos-BH), Javier Romo (Astana Qazaqstan), Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies), Carlos García Pierna (Kern Pharma) and for a second day in a row, both Jon Barrenetxea (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), leader of the mountains classification, and Txomin Juaristi (Euskaltel-Euskadi).
There was just one non-starter, but he was a name with a long history of top results in Itzulia: Pello Bilbao, co-leader for Bahrain Victorious and fifth last year, a DNS because of sickness.
Perhaps because of the hillier finale than stage 1, the peloton seemed more confident about letting the six riders ahead gain a gap than they had done the trio of breakaways 24 hours earlier, and the half dozen’s advantage soared up to seven minutes and counting in no time.
Just like stage 1, Ineos Grenadiers once again made their presence known at the front of the bunch, simultaneously defending the interests of race leader Hayter and their GC contender Dani Martínez. But it was not until the 70 kilometres to go mark, when Barrenetxea, Javier Romo and Jousseaume sheered away over the top of the Uitzi, the second climb of the day, that there was any real sign of major action. Then on the brutally steep lower slopes of the Saldias climb a sudden acceleration from Andrey Amador and EF Education-EasyPost teammate Richard Carapaz left stage 1 winner and race leader Hayter reeling.
While Romo and Jousseaume proved to be the strongest in the break ahead on the Saldias, after Carapaz’s dig, Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) was the only contender actually to throw down the gauntlet, joining dropped rider Barrenetxea in a two-man group and dragging him back up the two stage leaders.
The quartet of Romo, Jousseaume, Barrenetxea and Landa only had 40 seconds on the constantly undulating road after the climb, but there was little support behind for Ineos Grenadiers in their chase. Landa’s initial target was a bonus sprint, 28 kilometres from the finish, easily powering through at the front for the maximum time gain.
Even the comparatively gentle gradient on the final climb of Arkiskil, on paper a hefty 11 kilometres long but in fact even longer, proved too much for daylong breakaway Barrenetxea as EF Education, Movistar and Ineos piled on the heat. Landa finally bowed to the inevitable as well, taking a long swig from his bottle as the peloton roared past at a steady grind.
However, and despite an earlier crash exposing a nasty-looking patch of road rash on his left thigh, Lilian Calmejane (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) was the one who launched himself out of the pack and briefly his combined work with Abel Balderstone (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) made it look as if the two might gain some distance. Instead, all it took was another change of tempo from Movistar and Ineos and over the top, the peloton, albeit very loosely held together, was still mostly present in one group.
The switchback 70 km/h drop back to the finishing town of Leitza five kilometres further on was thankfully dry and relatively well-surfaced. But the constant changes of direction and gradient made it an ordeal to negotiate, with Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) one of those GC favourites closest to the front.
The dramatically strung-out peloton briefly split into a front group of 15 on one of the worst downhill chicanes, yet just before the final kilometre kicked up, a marginally bigger group reformed. Schelling was ideally placed to take the win, while most were just thankful to put the ultra-difficult descent behind them.
Stage 3 from Errenteria to Amasa-Vilabona on Wednesday presents a very different kind of challenge, a series of short, punchy climbs throughout, culminating in no less than four ‘walls’ in the final 16 kilometres. Although the last ascent, just 1.1 kilometres long, has segments of a gut-curling 26 percent and provides the one summit finish of the race, it’s the combined effect of so many steep climbs that are likely to do the most damage.
Results
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