Paul Lapeira (Decathlon-AG2R) came through a crash-marred, chaotic finale on wet roads to claim stage 2 of the Itzulia Basque Country.
Decathlon-AG2R massed at the front with 600 metres to go on the rugged stage from Irun to Kanbo, and Lapeira then shot past Astana Qazaqstan rider Samuele Bastistella just before the finish to clinch his first WorldTour win easily.
Battistella hung on for second and Louis Vervaeke (Soudal-QuickStep) clinched third on a stage that saw a general regrouping of the peloton in the finale.
Race leader Primož Roglič (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Jonas Vingegaard (VIsma-Lease a Bike) were also in the front group of some 30 riders that just avoided a large crash with around four kilometres to go that split the peloton. However, Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) was amongst those favourites that lost time.
“Getting a win at WorldTour level is something very special, it’s great” Lapeira told reporters as the up-and-coming young Frenchman celebrated his third victory in less than a month, and his team’s eighth this season.
“I actually tried to attack with 1.5 kilometres to go, but it didn’t work out. So I tried to ease back and keep something back for the sprint. Bruno [Armirail, teammate] brought me up to the front, and he did a lot of work with 700 to 200 to go, and then I just went for it.”
How it unfolded
An early break containing the Azparren brothers, Xabier (Q36.5) and Ekoitz (Euskaltel-Euskadi), was joined by former Tour de France stage winner Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies), Ivan Cobo (Kern Pharma) and Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH) almost as soon as the stage 2 had left the start town of Irun.
The five opened a solid lead in no time at all, as well, carving themselves a gap of four minutes by the summit of the Saint Ignace, the one, early classified climb of the day.
The next couple of hours passed fairly uneventfully, barring a mid-race crash for former Itzulia winner Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) and teammate Simon Geschke, although Cobo finally found the going too hard and drifted back to the main peloton.
A further boost of power by Ineos Grenadiers to the chase – presumably riding for fast finisher and former Itzulia stage winner Ethan Hayter – gradually saw a collective increase in the bunch’s effort. As the first of a series of late rain showers began to teem down, the peloton reduced the gap to just over two minutes with 40km to go.
A mass sprint seemed all but inevitable, and the only question by this point was whether the…
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