There was action in the last thirty kilometres of the Tour of the Basque Country on Thursday, but in the end, no real gap was made between the GC contenders on stage 4. David Gaudu did not manage to follow Jonas Vingegaard and Mikel Landa in the last climb, but he still finished the day just two seconds behind the Dane, a winner once again. The French climber remains third in the general classification, now thirty-one seconds behind the Scandinavian leader.
A big loop of 175 kilometres in the surroundings of Bilbao, 3000 vertical meters and a decisive climb. This was the day’s menu on the Tour of the Basque Country, and this stage 4 was also interesting for the attackers. As a consequence, the breakaway established itself only after forty kilometres of fighting. “They went after twenty-five kilometres, got a seven-minute lead at best, then the peloton started to get nervous with Ineos Grenadiers and Jayco-AlUla leading”, summarized Philippe Mauduit. At the front, Harm Vanhoucke (DSM), Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies), Natael Tesfazion (Trek-Segafredo), Jonathan Caicedo (EF Education-EasyPost) and Jon Barranetxea (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) tried to make the most of their attempt, but the bunch left them no chance and caught them just before the second and last intermediate sprint, located twenty-seven kilometres from the line. “David got a bit boxed in and couldn’t fight for it,” said Philippe. On the other hand, the Frenchman was in a perfect position a few moments later to tackle the climb of La Asturiana (7.4 km at 6.5%), whose summit was located fifteen kilometres from the finish. “Like the previous days, the guys worked really well”, added Philippe. “Romain, who has not yet recovered from his crash, worked earlier than usual and could help his teammates a lot. Then Lars, Matthieu and Quentin were able to put David in the very first positions at the bottom of the decisive climb”.
“David just lacked a little something”, Philippe Mauduit
In the first half of the climb, also the steepest, the Groupama-FDJ leader first remained very attentive at the front of the pack. However, when Jonas Vingegaard launched his attack five kilometres from the top, he was unable to follow. “The team worked really well to put me in the best possible position, but in the last climb, I was on the limit”, he said later. Only Mikel Landa joined the Dane while the French climber found himself in a chasing group. The latter got a bit bigger on the more rolling part of the climb, and eventually passed the summit half a minute behind the duo. “He was there in the final climb, but he just lacked a little something when Vingegaard attacked”, added Philippe Mauduit. “He then managed his effort on the rest of the climb, and he got to the line fighting for third place”. In the final kilometres of the stage, the chasing group came back very close to the leading riders. Vingegaard was still able to snatch victory ahead of Landa, but the rest of the favorites crossed the line just two seconds later, with David Gaudu in seventh position. “In the end, there is no major shake-up for the overall after today’s stage,” said Philippe. “It was a good day. It’s satisfying that David is being a bit pushed to his limits on his returning race. That’s what he needs for the next goals”.
In the general classification, the Paris-Nice’s runner-up therefore remains in third place, now thirty-one seconds behind the leader Vingegaard. Before the queen stage scheduled on Saturday, another explosive terrain will be on the agenda tomorrow. “There are some sharp hills, winding roads, and it will certainly not be an easy stage”, concluded Philippe.
No comment