The young Spanish runner, 21 years old, wins the 5th stage of the Tour of the Basque Country. Evenepoel is the leader, with just two seconds ahead of Colombian Dani Rodríguez.
the grenadian Carlos Rodrguezone of the great hopes of Spanish cycling,You’ve already had a taste of what it’s like to win in the elite. The young runner, barely 21 years old, touched the sky after winning the penultimate stage of 163.8 kilometers, starting in Zamudio and finishing in Mallavia. The wall, a slope that seemed endless, with ramps of up to 19%, elevate Almucar to glory.
Rodríguez already generated high expectations from a very young age, winning gold in the Spanish Junior Time Trial Championship in 2018, and bronze in the European Road Championship that same year. Once promoted from category to professional, the man from Granada managed to get on the pedestal again, achieving third place in the Vuelta a la Comunidad Valenciana 2022. Now the stage victory in the Vuelta al Pas Vasco has arrived.
The one from INEOS led a small group from the head of the platoon made up of his teammate Daniel Martnez. Carlos Rodriguez made a magnificent effort to get rid of Mark Solerthe ninth to reach the finish line, from which he managed to disengage and prevail on the explosive final slope and, thus, win victory and his first great success as a professional.
“Marc Soler has had a great stage, I feel bad for him, but I have to thank him. He was riding like a motorcycle, without him victory would have been impossible. I also thank the team for giving me the opportunity to fight for victory”, said Rodríguez at the finish line in the Biscayan town.
THE AGONA OF THE END
With 13 kilometers to go, Rodríguez attacked and released Soler, who ended up forming a chasing group led by Remco Evenepoel in which were several of the favorites, but not Primoz Roglic. The final slope corresponding to the Mallavia wall, 800 meters long, with several sections in which the inclination acquired enormous percentages, conditioned a Roglic who lost just over a minute with respect to the rest of the favorites to win the stage. This places Evenepoel as the provisional leader, with a two-second lead over Colombian Dani Martínez, with whom he will compete to achieve the final victory.
For their part, the Spanish runners Ion Izagirre (Ineos), Enric Mas (Movistar) and Pello Bilbao (Bahrain), who are in fourth, fifth and sixth position, are eligible to win the next race. However, they gave options to their pursuers in the classification Alexandr Vlasov Y Jonas Vingegaard after falling off the bike in the final stretch.
On Saturday everything will be resolved in the sixth and last stage of the Tour of the Basque Country that begins in Eibar and ends in Arrate. The 135.7-kilometre route, with three first-class ports, two second-class ports and two third-class ports, may still hold some surprises.
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