Itzulia Basque Country stage 4: Brandon McNulty takes GC lead as Ion Izaguirre scores sprint by wheel width

In the company of five other escapees, Brandon McNulty (UAE-Team Emirates) made good on being let loose from domestique duties in support of captain Tadej Pogačar to take over the general classification lead.

“For sure we were aiming for the stage win without thinking too much about the leader’s jersey,” McNulty said. “I feel good and ready to face the last two stages. Tomorrow could be another tricky stage, and Saturday will be an epic day. We’ll do our best to defend the leader’s jersey.”

At the end of a stage that had two cat 3 climbs, a cat two climb, and then a cat 1 climb preceding a relatively flat run-in to the line, a select group was let go by other GC favorites.

Ion Izagirre (Astana-Premier Tech) stabbed his front wheel ahead of Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) in the final half meter of the 2021 Itzulia Basque Country stage 4.

Bilbao is now fourth in the general classification, just 36 seconds back of McNulty.

“Even I was sure Pello (Bilbao) had won and when I saw him celebrating I congratulated him,” Izagirre said. “But then they told me I’d won in fact, so I feel incredible.”

With a late-launch sprint in the final 300m, Izagirre, racing in his home region took top honors by a wheel-width.

https://twitter.com/ehitzulia/status/1380181842440155144

How it happened

With 50 kilometers between the four-man break and the finish line, just 1:20 separated the chasers with the GC favorites saving their powder for the climbing challenge ahead.

Juan Pedro Lopez (Trek-Segafredo), Ben O’Connor (AG2R-Citroën) rolled off the front of a group that had Guillaume Martin (Cofidis), and Jefferson Cepeda (Caja Rural) in it. But the chasing group with the GC favorites lopped off nearly a minute in just 5km on the wheels of Adam Yates and Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers), Roglič, and Tadej Pogačar (UAE-Team Emirates) all near the front.

On the back side of the climb, local knowledge of the roads guided Lopez’s descent and he distance himself from O’Connor.

McNulty, Pogačar, Roglič, Alejandro Valverde (Movistar Team), Martin, and Emanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) moved to bring back the Trek-Segafredo rider.

Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) and Esteban Chaves (EF Education-Nippo) accelerated up a 12 percent slope, but were quickly joined by Sergio Higuita and Hugh Carthy (both EF Education-Nippo), and McNulty.

On a quick nod from his team captain, McNutlty moved to the front with James Knox (Deceuninck-Quick-Step) while Valverde and Jakob Fuglsang (Astana-Premier Tech) grimaced and fought to stay in the small bunch.

With the Slovenian duo keeping an eye on each other, a six-man bunch stretched away from the others, just as Higuita and Carthy, both distanced on the climb, clawed their way back to the bunch.

Izagirre, Bilbao, McNulty, Chaves, Buchmann, and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) gapped 14 others on the final climb, and by the time they were descending, had established a sizable gap of nearly half a minute.

Carthy, rested, initiated a half-hearted chase bringing Fuglsang and Valverde, but the McNulty group was gone. A frustrated Valverde made a similar effort, but his leadership of the chase was not followed, and he dropped back to the group.

With nearly a minute separating the front of the race, the grand tour heavy hitters all but sat up with 5km to go.

https://twitter.com/ehitzulia/status/1380186636441509892

With the realization that McNulty was going to take over the race lead, Jumbo-Visma’s Vingegaard inserted himself into the final push, and nearly held Bilbao and Izagirre, in an attempt to deny McNulty any time bonus.

With the gap, McNulty trades his leader’s jersey in the best young rider’s competition for a jersey designating the overall race leader.

What’s to come

Stage 6 covers 160km, and includes three category 3 climbs, including a one-two punch in the final 50km. While the GC favorites — the two Slovenians and a handful of Spaniards looking to make a mark on their home turf — will be saving up for the real test in two day’s time, don’t expect this stage to be treated as a “gimmie” for anyone.