Winners
1/4 Alexander Krieger – Cholet-Pays de Loire
1/4 Lorenzo Manzin – Tour de Normandie
1/4 Adrien Guillonnet – Tour de Langkawi
2/4 Eduardo Sepulveda – N.C. Argentina
4/4 Jakob Geßner - G.P. Palio del Recioto
4/4 Tim Merlier – Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux
Route Adélie de Vitré (1.1) 199.3 km
Luis León Sánchez was expected to lead the race but still not fully recovered the team decided to start with a weakened squad of just 6 riders. Laurens De Vreese now leading.
We got a two rider breakaway sitting in front up to the last 20 km, the slightly hilly course was made harder by winds up to 45 km/hour. To make a long story short it came to a sprint between 23 riders. Laurens De Vreese was able to stay in the leading group and came 5th in the very close sprint.
The race was won by Tom Devriendt (Wanty) in front of Mark Renshaw (Dimension Data)
Léo Vincent (FDJ) did not finish, getting a hip fracture in a crash.
Expectations:
Magnus Cort haven’t had the best results lately, but we are optimistic aiming for a top 10, a result outside top 15 would be a disappointment.
Tour of Flanders is the oldest cobbled classic in Belgium and the 3nd oldest Belgian race next to Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1892) and Paris-Brussels (1893) (now Brussels Cycling Classic), but it is the youngest of the five monuments.
The first edition in 1913 had 37 riders on the start list, it was 324 km and won by Belgiand Paul Deman (25), after more than 12 hours in the saddle. Originally it stated in Ghent and finished in Mariakerke, but after a lot of route changes from 2012 finish in Oudenaarde and since 2017 starts in Antwerpen.
Archaeological remains prove that Antwerpen had its origins in a Gallo-Roman outpost (around 2nd to 3rd century), first mentioned in 4th century now settled by the Germanic Franks. In the early 1500’s the city grew in importance and became the richest city in Europe as an international centre of trade and finance up to the 1570’s from where the city began to decline in importance.
Top 5 media favorites:
Niki Terpstra (Direct Energie) Sep Vanmarcke (Education First) Peter Sagan (BORA) Zdeněk Štybar (Quick Step) Tiesj Benoot (Lotto Soudal)
Antwerpen (1890–1900)
Race
Very little possibility that we will see wet cobblestones today, a beautiful April morning with sunshine, few clouds, little wind and temperatures above 10°C.
There is not much fight at the start, Mads Würtz opens what is to become todays breakaway with Chris Hamilton (Sunweb) Dimitri Peyskens (Wallonie-Bruxelles) Neilson Powless (Jumbo-Visma), and with the addition of Aaron Verwilst (Sport Vlaanderen) a few km later the breakaway was formed after less than 25 km.
All in all Mads Würtz the on paper strongest rider in the breakaway although Aaron Verwilst mayby slightly stronger on the cobbles.
After having a max lead of more than 5 minutes the breakaway starts the first cobbles at Lippenhovenstraat with 2’03”
Australian Chris Hamilton (23) leads the break at Lippenhovenstraat. After having a great season in 2016 riding for CT team Avanti IsoWhey Sport, he signed with Sunweb for 2017
After the early cobbled sections the peloton let go of the gas again, over the next 25 km the breakaway extend to 4’11” when starting Oude Kwaremont for the first time. 142 km left.
The feared and famous Oude Kwaremont takes its toll, providing for several punctures, crashes and drops it reduces the pack from 170 to 104 riders. Astana’s Manuele Boaro down.
Over the next about 90 km, we get some serious action over Wolfenberg, Haaghoek and Kapelmuur, with lots of riders dropping and also periods of more moderate pace helping the stronger riders coming back, we have 76 riders in the pack and the break now at under one minute.
Astana now with four riders in the favourite group, Dmitriy Gruzdev, Laurens De Vreese, Magnus Cort Nielsen and Alexey Lutsenko.
The pack at Oude Kwaremont 2nd time, 55.7 km left for them
Oude Kwaremont splits the pack with all the Astana riders ending in 2nd group, also the breakaway was reeled in, but the split was not to huge and some hesitation in the favourite group allowed many riders to get back.
36 riders at Koppenberg including Laurens De Vreese, Magnus Cort Nielsen and Alexey Lutsenko.
Koppenberg starts what could be the decisive selection and over Mariaborrestraat, Steenbeekdries and Taaienberg we get a clearer picture, 20 riders have broken free and laid a 40” lead to the next group.
On Kruisberg with 28 km to the finish we get the first attack between the top favourites, Vanmarcke and Sagan attacks.
The duo drifts away from 9 riders in direct pursuit, now riding Oude Kwaremont for the third and final time they got 53” with 19 km left and only the final Paterberg climb in front of them.
Astana has Lutsenko at 2’21, Cort and De Vreese at 3’33
Sagan first on Oude Kwaremont with Vanmarcke clued
Sep Vanmarcke attacks on the final climb Paterberg, Peter Sagan can’t keep up and the distance between them grow.
With 6 km left for Vanmarcke, Sagan is at 33” behind him a group of Niki Terpstra, Zdeněk Štybar, Tiesj Benoot and Dylan Van Baarle is catching up.
Kristoff and Stuyven at 1’33”, Alexey Lutsenko in A8 at 6’11 and Cort in A10 at 7’03
Vanmarcke have had an anonymous season, his best result was 5th in Dwars door Vlaanderen, previously best result in “De Ronde” was two times 3th in 2016 & 2014
Such an exciting finish! Group Terpstra pick up first Sagan, and with just 2.5 km left Zdeněk Štybar accelerate and close the gap to Sep Vanmarcke.
Dylan Van Baarle counters and also he gets contact to form a leading trio passing under the red kite together, Zdeněk Štybar continues to lead to keep group Sagan at bay, practically leading out for Dylan Van Baarle who easily dominates the final sprint. Zdeněk Štybar 2nd and the brave but likely a bit disappointed Sep Vanmarcke 3rd.
Alexey Lutsenko just barely gets caught by the group with Magnus Cort, but he is still the strongest and wins the sprint to become Astana’s best as 18th.
This was without doubt the most important victory in the career of Dutch Van Baarle (26), his previous best result in any monument was 4th in Vlaanderen 2017
Astana Pro Team
Aiming for 10th to15th another weak result in the cobbled classics, Magnus Cort underperforming and even though Alexey Lutsenko tried his best he was far from strong enough to get inside top 10.
Due to the fact that Sánchez is still not completely over this injurie he was replaced by Yuriy Natarov
Ion Izagirre, Pello Bilbao, Jakob Fuglsang, Jan Hirt
Omar Fraile, Laurens De Vreese, Yuriy Natarov
Expectations:
This edition of Itzulia Basque Country is crowded with top riders, very hard for us to anticipate how far we can go here, Jakob Fuglsang not in the best shape so unless his legs are brilliant we expect it to be Ion Izagirre or in worst case Pello Bilbao for the GC.
Our official goal is top 5 – hardly possible but we hope to get close.
For the first time in recent history Basque Country start with an ITT, the prologue is 11.9 km but it is not made for the usual tempo specialist with a very hard climb up to Ermita de la Antigua located on a hilltop close to the town. This prologue will be dominated by the GC riders.
Zumarraga is located at the east side of Basque Country about 30 km south of the Biscayne Bay. The town first appear in writing 1366 when the king of Castile donated the monastery of Zumárraga to the Lord of Lazcano. Zumarraga was connected by three railway lines 1864-1889-1926 making the town an communications center in the early 1900’s.
Top 5 media favorites:
Tom Dumoulin (Sunweb) Bob Jungels (Quick Step) Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) Geraint Thomas (Sky) Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal)
Zumarraga is the birthplace of Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish admiral and first governor of the Spanish Philippines, founder of Cebu (1565) and Manila (1571).
Race
A fine day in Zumarraga with a bright sun and 17°C
Starting amongst the first 20 rider we get the first GC contender Adam Yates with new best 20’34”, he was soon to be beaten by Enric Mas with 20’33, in the meantime we also saw Alejandro Valverde 2” slower than Yates.
Geraint Thomas with new best 20’02
Thomas overtaking Oliveira on the climb
Next up is Astana’s GC hope Ion Izagirre, 3th best losing 26” to Thomas. Nairo Quintana 2nd best 13” behind Thomas push Izagirre down to 4th
Then Chris Froome with new 2nd best 4” behind teammate Thomas
Ion Izagirre
Wilco Kelderman new 2nd best just 3” behind Thomas, Egan Bernal loses 23”, Ilnur Zakarin 21” in the same time as Enric Mas.
Pello Bilbao loses 28” to Thomas just 2” slower than teammate Ion Izagirre, Jakob Fuglsang loses additional 3”.
Thibaut Pinot 3rd best in the same time as Kelderman, +3”, Simon Yates 5th best in the same time as Chris Froome 4” behind Thomas.
Thibaut Pinot
Now to some disappointing results:
Bob Jungels loses 23” not good enough from the stage favourite. Mikel Landa right behind Jungels in the same time and stage favourite Michal Kwiatkowski loses 35”. Daniel Martin +1'02”
And then to the top stage favourite Tom Dumoulin doing what was expected from him, new best 19’57”, 5” faster than Thomas, Dumoulin win’s the stage and leads the race.
Tom Dumoulin won the GC and 3 stages in Paris – Nice last month, now also in a great position to make a good result in Itzulia Basque Country
Astana Pro Team
Three in top 20 shows some depth in the squad, best 13th from Izagirre is not too bad considering the time we lost was just from 31 to 36”, but this means that we have to attack and gain time whenever we can.
From Zumárraga we are heading for Pamplona, from where we are taking some loops in the area around Gorraiz before the finish in the town. Even though it does not show on the profile the last km is uphill, only about 1% at first but the finish-line is on a 7% slope.
Gorraiz in located about 6 km from Pamplona, today part of its metropolitan area. The town has about 4000 inhabitants. Gorraiz was originally just a few houses surrounding Gorraiz Castle (part of current construction from 16th century) and a church.
Top 5 media favorites:
Michael Matthews (Sunweb) Philippe Gilbert (Quick Step) Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) Michael Albasini (Mitchelton)
Today Castillo de Gorraiz is a restaurant connected to Hotel Castillo de Gorraiz Golf & Spa
Race
A bit colder today 14°C and clouded with periods of sun. Wind below 6km/hour
Thomas Scully (Education First) with the early attack, over the first uncategorized hill another 8 riders have joined the break, Omar Fraile in the group, but the pack is still right behind them.
A leading duo of Simon Clarke (Education First) and Tony Martin (Jumbo) has 2’20 to a lonely Jon Aberasturi (Caja Rural) another 1’01 to the pack. Everyone else was reeled in, when Clarke takes the last KoM.
Result of the two climbs:
Simon Clarke
EF Education First p/b Cannondale
6
Tony Martin
Team Jumbo-Visma
4
Jon Aberasturi
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
2
In the rear of the peloton Yuriy Natarov struggles on the climbs – he will have a hard day, fighting the time limit
Mid stage also Jon Aberasturi surrender to the pack, and with about 25 km left also Clarke was reeled in. Tony Martin has 37”, but there is a last uncategorized hill around the 15 km mark, and that was also the end for Martin.
Tony Martin best season result was a podium at stage 5 in Tirreno-Adriatico, the 4 time ITT World Champion has a total of 65 professional victories.
With Mark Padun (Bahrain) leading on the climb, also Sunweb and Astana very visible on the climb, and together the three teams leading on the downhill up to the final 6 km. Then Georg Preidler (FDJ) takes the front with Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) at wheel.
Fuglesang swings of and from 2km Pello Bilbao leading for Ion Izagirre start a very early sprint and makes a small gap for himself and Ion Izagirre, but can they hold out when the better sprinters open up?
Astana attempts an early sprint to get a headstart on the uphill finish.
The better sprinters comes closer and closer, and overtake Ion Izagirre within the last 50 meters, Phil Bauhaus (Bahrain) with an impressive last 500 meters takes the stage win, and also Roberto Ferrari (UAE) passes Ion Izagirre for 2nd, but Izagirre takes the last podium.
Most of the riders got the same time.
This was German Phil Bauhaus (25) 4th stage win of the season also winning two stages in La Tropicale Amissa Bongo and a stage in Tour de la Provence, last season Phil Bauhaus got one victory, stage 3 in Abu Dhabi Tour
Astana Pro Team
A very good result on a stage where we had little hope for success, teamwork played out nicely, on the downside Yuriy Natarov missed the time limit.
CG wise we still have 3 options within reach, and bonus seconds help Ion to improve.
The route starts in Sarriguren from there almost directly was towards a climb cat 2. up to the village Goñi and then first south then west on a route around the Urbasa-Andia natural park. After reaching Santikurutze Kanpezu we move north into the mountains first an uncatagoried climb up close to Iglesia de San Esteban and then the cat.3 up to Opakua village. From there it is mostly downhill further west until we reach our destination, an uphill finish up to Sanctuary of Nuestra Señora de Estíbaliz.
On the site of the town Sarriguren, a fireplace dating back to 2500 BC to cook rabbits, wild boars etc have been excavated. Also 38 burials from the 12th to 18th centuries have been found, suggesting that there may have been a population here for a very long time. Sarriguren was first mentioned in writing at the beginning of the 13th century
Top 5 media favorites:
Jelle Vanendert (Lotto) Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) Michal Kwiatkowski (Sky) Michael Woods (Education First) Enrico Gasparotto (Dimension Data)
Sanctuary of Nuestra Señora de Estíbaliz was first mentioned in 962, The present day sanctuary was built in the 11th century.
Race
Again today the temperatures dropping 12°C and it also look like rain most of the day.
At first the weather is horrible, but that does not scare the riders, Robin Carpenter (Rally) first out of the start box, and soon 11 riders on the move including Astana’s Laurens De Vreese but the pack is restless and they don’t get away.
A new attempt by Bert-Jan Lindeman (Jumbo) leads to a new group of 8 riders, starting the climb to Goñi with 57”, Astana got Omar Fraile in the group.
Robin Carpenter was again in this breakaway but struggles on the climb and was dropped quite early, also in the pack difficulties for Wilco Kelderman (Sunweb) with a puncture and no teammates to help him back.
The KoM was between Fraile and Kristijan Koren (Bahrain), Fraile with the upper hand.
2nd in Milano – Sanremo and 3rd in Tour of Oman, Omar Fraile have had a fine season so far. Spanish Fraile (29) had his last victory in 2018, stage 14 in Tour de France
On the downhill we get a series of crashes on the wet roads, amongst the victims are race leader Tom Dumoulin and Astana’s Jakob Fuglsang, the crash happens in front of the bunch and only 14 riders escape without getting blocked, but a small group like that with almost 150 km left won’t make it, and after 15 km it is all united again.
On the long flat mid-section the breakaway holds 2’15-2’30 but getting close to the 2nd climb the fight for position in the pack reduce the gap to about a minute.
Remco Evenepoel (Quick Step) takes the 2nd KoM in front of Bert-Jan Lindeman (Jumbo), Omar Fraile takes the last point just enough for the overnight lead.
Belgian Remco Evenepoel (19), turned pro to join Quick Step from the beginning of the season, after winning an impressive amount of amateur and junior races in 2018
After the climb Omar Fraile attacks, but he just gets 20” and after the downhill he was reeled in, with a fast pace from the peloton the entire breakaway was caught soon after.
No more interesting events, it all ends in a mass sprint, but the last 900 meters on a slope above 6% and it is also the punchy riders crossing the line first.
Michal Kwiatkowski wins in Estíbaliz in front of Esteban Cháves and Daniel Martin. Astana’s best was Ion Izagirre 15th.
This was Michal Kwiatkowski 2nd season win, he also won the first stage in Vuelta a Andalucia beating Ion Izagirre in a close sprint
Astana Pro Team
After leading and controlling the last 8-10 km, we missed the timing on the uphill finish. Not great but we did not lose substantial time.
The stage starts in Vitoria-Gasteiz about 70 km south of Bilbao, from there heading west for a climb near Orduña-Urduña, then north to the mountains south of Arrigorriaga, where the route takes us over two climbs, the latest and hardest a cat.1 up to Alto de Bikotz or Bikotz Gane with less than 40 km to the finish.
Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital city of the Basque Country, the origins of Vitoria is uncertain either the Visigoth or the Franks or both may have settled a larger town or city close to present day Vitoria-Gasteiz in the dark ages around 6th century BC., but what is certain is that the current town was founded by Navarrese King Sancho VI in the year 1181.
Top 5 media favorites:
Marc Sarreau (FDJ) Michael Matthews (Sunweb) Jens Debusschere (Katusha) Jens Keukeleire (Lotto) Roberto Ferrari (UAE)
Vitoria-Gasteiz in the 17th century
Race
I will be a lot better weather today 15°C and mostly sunny with little wind.
Alex Frame (Trek) opens the stage, behind him a group of four riders also on the move Fraile (Astana), Martin (Jumbo) Aranburu (Caja Rural) Van Hoecke (CCC).
This group unite and build a lead of about 1’25 over the first 25 km, then also Evan Huffman (Rally) and Gediminas Bagdonas (Ag2r) break free of the peloton and will join the break after another 10 km
The peloton slows down and the break has about 4 minutes passing the first KoM now with a little more than 100 km left. Tony Martin takes the KoM in front of Alex Aranburu and Omar Fraile.
With Martin winning the KoM, Fraile’s KoM lead is now just one point
Passing the 40 km between the two first KoM’s the distance drops to around 3 minutes, Tony Martin win the KoM ahead at Omar Fraile, they are now sharing the virtual KoM lead.
Soon after Alex Frame attempt to go solo but that was wasted energy he was reeled in fast. Knowing he need to drop Martin, Fraile attacks from the bottom of the Cat.1 climb, he drops the group but with a nice last attack Aranburu, was able to come back and take the KoM in front of Fraile.
The other breakaway riders was caught by the peloton and even though Aranburu and Fraile fought brave, also they had to give up close to the 20 km banner.
Spanish Alex Aranburu (23) has one professional win, Circuito de Getxo (1.1) last season, where he also came 5th in the GC of Tour of Norway
The pace is now very hard with the fight for position leading up to the last KoM climb, Maximilian Schachmann setting a brutal pace from the bottom but not able to break free, Schachmann fall back not to burn out, but Jakob Fuglsang takes over still pushing very hard.
Fuglsang first over the top with teammate Izagirre at wheel, 2.6 km to the finish line
Jakob Fuglsang attempt to open a small gap on the downhill with his good technical skills, Izagirre still clued but also an alert Marc Sarreau (FDJ) sitting at the end of this short train.
Jakob Fuglsang burns up and the well placed Marc Sarreau reaps the harvest Astana have sown, taking the stage win in Arrigorriaga.
Ion Izagirre 2nd and Jakob Fuglsang 3rd.
This was fench Marc Sarreau’s (25) 2nd season victory, he won Le Samyn 5/3. Marc Sarreau’s have never won on the WT before.
Astana Pro Team
Even though 2nd is not an easy result to cope with, we are very satisfied with the result today. Two riders on the podium, and holding on to the KoM is nice.
The stage starts Arrigorriaga 7 km south of Bilbao. From there the route moves north up to Urdaibai estuary at the Bay of Biscay, from there following the coast down to Mutriku before heading for Eibar and the final climb up to mount Arrate. The route passes several minor climbs but it is the two Cat.1 climbs close to Eibar that will be decisive especially the summit of Arrate close to the finish.
Eibar is a traditional stage destination in the Tour of the Basque Country, and was also included in the Vuelta a España 1972, 1974 and 2012.The city is known since the 16th century for production of finely engraved small firearms and other weapons.
Top 5 media favorites:
Chris Froome (Sky) Nairo Quintana (Movistar) Geraint Thomas (Sky) Simon Yates (Mitchelton) Mikel Landa (Movistar)
The Arrate Cross (1652): It is still a popular belief that you must circle the cross three times while praying to the Virgin of Arrate in order to get a boyfriend or girlfriend
Race
15°C and clouded, no rain at the start-line but the forecast expect showers and winds up to 30 km/hour.
Davide Martinelli (Quick Step) with the first move, leading another 4 riders, behind them also a group of three with KoM leader Omar Fraile.
From the first group it is Cameron Meyer taking the early KoM.
Soon after the climb the group with Omar Fraile are reeled in and it looks like we get a five rider breakaway, but the race takes an unexpected turn when a strong group with Tim Wellens (Lotto) Emanuel Buchmann (BORA) and George Bennett (Jumbo) attacks from the bunch.
It has started to rain.
Tim Wellens lead the counter attack. Wellens won stage 4 in Vuelta a Andalucía earlier this season. His best result in Basque Country was 2nd on stage 5 in 2015
We get a crash on the now very wet roads, Astana’s Laurens De Vreese caught in the chaos but he get back after about 15 km.
Up front the original breakaway melts with group Buchmann/Bennett, the 12 riders got 3 minutes with 100 km left. Cameron Meyer also takes the next KoM, Alex Aranburu the third and Jelle Vanendert the fourth cat 3.
Another crash takes out Ben Swift, Movistar has Mikel Landa down but Alejandro Valverde, Marc Soler and Richard Carapaz fall back to help. Also Adam Yates, Ilnur Zakarin, Sam Oomen and Astana’s Omar Fraile was involved, but with the strong Movistar train were brought back quite fast.
Somewhat surprisingly Buchmann can’t keep up when the breakaway splits on the cat.1, leaving only Bennett, Wellens and Vanendert in the first group.
Tejay attacks from the favourite group of now 36 riders, 3’06 behind group Bennett, 37.5 km left.
Tejay Van Garderen came 5th in TDF 2012 and 2014, at the time expected to become the next great American Grand Tour rider, but even though he has 16 professional wins he never really made it into the very top of cycling
Wellens takes the cat.1 opening a gap of 1’15 to Bennett over the top, behind Bennett it is now Van Garderen at 1’54” as Vanendert now sitting in a favourite group of 17 riders at 2’34”. Ion Izagirre the only Astana rider with the favourites, Jakob Fuglsang and Jan Hirt at 3’23”
Bennett and Van Garderen reeled in at the cat.3, now only Wellens alone on front of the favourites. Disaster strikes Astana with Ion Izagirre having to the go of the favourite group.
Ion Izagirre in trouble, Izagirre came to Astana from Bahrain Merida from the beginning of this season. Izagirre’s best result was winning Tour de Pologne 2015
Tim Wellens just able to get the KoM point at the Cat.3 before he was caught. With this it’s most likely that Omar Fraile will hold the overnight KoM leading with 2 points to Alex Aranburu.
Chris Froome, Esteban Cháves and Thibaut Pinot with small acceleration on the downhill, but without result.
The fighting starts early on the final climb. Acceleration from Thibaut Pinot makes the 11 man group explode. Chris Froome leads a group with teammate Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates slowly catching up to Pinot.
With 3 km to the top Froome swings of, leaving it to Geraint Thomas leading the remaining trio towards the top.
Esteban Cháves at 56”, Daniel Martínez at 1’27” and Kelderman/Wellens at 1’46”
At this point Ion Izagirre at 5’08 a bad day for Astana.
A dominant Sky Roster have set their mark on this hard mountain stage, now it’s up to Thomas to finish the job
Geraint Thomas makes his final acceleration at the beginning of the 1 km 9% ramp leading up to the finish, dropping Pinot and Yates and takes the stage with 20” to Pinot and 35” to Yates, Geraint Thomas also takes the GC lead.
Chris Froome loses 57” and Esteban Cháves at 1'50” rounds of top 5.
Astana’s best Ion Izagirre 20th at 7'49”, also top team Movistar Team had an awful day Nairo Quintana 13th at 5'39” Valverde 16th at 7'24 and Mikel Landa 26th losing more than 10 minutes.
Geraint Thomas came 2nd in Paris – Nice previously this season. The 2018 TDF winner was born in Cardiff, Wales 25 May 1986
Astana Pro Team
Our official goal of top 5 now impossible as we need to gain almost 6 minutes on the final stage to get that high. The best possible result is a stage win on the last day and holding on to the KoM.
Result Stage
1
Geraint Thomas
Team Sky
3h38'56
2
Thibaut Pinot
Groupama - FDJ
+ 20
3
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 35
4
Chris Froome
Team Sky
+ 57
5
Esteban Cháves
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 1'50
6
Daniel Felipe Martínez
EF Education First p/b Cannondale
+ 2'36
7
Wilco Kelderman
Team Sunweb
+ 3'02
8
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
+ 3'25
9
Bob Jungels
Deceuninck-Quick Step
+ 3'50
10
Philippe Gilbert
Deceuninck-Quick Step
+ 4'37
Spoiler
20
Ion Izagirre
+ 7'49
22
Jakob Fuglsang
+ 8'01
27
Jan Hirt
+ 8'35
39
Pello Bilbao
+ 10'24
40
Omar Fraile
+ 10'24
93
Laurens De Vreese
+ 16'08
GC
1
Geraint Thomas
Team Sky
15h52'50
2
Thibaut Pinot
Groupama - FDJ
+ 23
3
Simon Yates
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 39
4
Chris Froome
Team Sky
+ 1'01
5
Esteban Cháves
Mitchelton-Scott
+ 2'04
6
Wilco Kelderman
Team Sunweb
+ 3'05
7
Daniel Felipe Martínez
EF Education First p/b Cannondale
+ 3'13
8
Bob Jungels
Deceuninck-Quick Step
+ 4'13
9
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
+ 4'40
10
Ilnur Zakarin
Team Katusha- Alpecin
+ 5'14
Spoiler
20
Ion Izagirre
+ 7'55
21
Jakob Fuglsang
+ 8'24
31
Pello Bilbao
+ 10'52
34
Jan Hirt
+ 11'25
48
Omar Fraile
+ 14'15
95
Laurens De Vreese
+ 21'54
Points
1
Geraint Thomas
Team Sky
49
2
Thibaut Pinot
Groupama - FDJ
48
3
Esteban Cháves
Mitchelton-Scott
38
KoM
1
Omar Fraile
Astana Pro Team
18
2
Alex Aranburu
Caja Rural - Seguros RGA
16
3
Tim Wellens
Lotto Soudal
13
Team: Mitchelton - Scott
Young: Daniel Felipe Martínez (EF Education First)
so lets put it right in the Basque Country 
