Today's one-day race served several riders as preparation for the Tour of the Basque Country, which commences next Monday. There were 3500 meters of elevation across the 203km long route, which took the peloton around Estella-Lizarra. The first half of the race contained a series of small, sapping ascents before the real climbing began over the final 100km. After the break was caught at 60km to go, the field started to split, but BORA-hansgrohe was represented up front with Sergio Higuita, Emanuel Buchmann and Giovanni Aleotti. With 10km remaining, Sergio and I. Izagirre attacked out of the reduced field and the duo was no longer to be caught. On the final climb, Sergio was dropped by Izagirre and ended up taking a strong second place.
Result
01 I. Izagirre 5:09:05
02 S. Higuita +0:02
03 M. Skjelmose +0:13
From the Finish Line
"It hasn't been the best start to the season for me, but today I felt good and that encourages me for the next week of racing. I'm really happy to be on the podium at this beautiful race, I was on the podium here also in 2019. It's a really explosive race with a tough finale, and I knew that heading into today. Izagirre and I worked well together, and it was a pity that I wasn't able to follow him on the final ascent. I came pretty close in the end, but I'm really pleased to have taken second place here. The entire team also worked very well together, so I'd like to thank them for all their work." - Sergio Higuita
“The guys were very motivated today to ride for the win. We knew that we had to be particularly careful of riders of the calibre of Izagirre and Carapaz, for instance, and definitely had to counter important attacks in the final. That's exactly what Sergio did. Unfortunately he wasn't able to follow Izagirre on the last climb but he still managed to take a very strong second place in the end. The guys worked well together today, and we had several riders in the reduced field so I think we can head into the Tour of the Basque Country with confidence." - Jens Zemke, Sports Director