Itzulia Basque Country 2023 (April 3-8)

[Tim Cahill]

There was no time for anyone to come round, did his homework.

 

[Red Rick]

Descent was nothing crazy, only dumb moment was that guy swerving into the EF rider who just wanted to attack

 

[F_Cance]

absolute joke of a finish once again. Impossible to come around in the last 500m. Great stage design

 

[Escarabajo]

A finale in descent. Not sure is that is a good idea. Having said that, Dani Martinez showing off his descending skills once again. What a pity. Aranburu was probably stopped because was causing a gap to Mas. But could have gone for the stage.

 

[Fantastico]

What a weird finale. Apart from that this edition appears to turn out as a real letdown compared to usually.

Second day in a row with a very weird sprint finale. Both times it looked almost impossible to overtake the leader after the last corner.

 

[Tim Cahill]

A finale in descent. Not sure is that is a good thing. Having said that, Dani Martinez showing off his descending skills once again. What a pity. Aranburu was probably stopped because was causing a gap to Mas. But could have gone for the stage.

Martinez had a mechanical they were saying, not sure if it was within 3k though (would it count anyway?)

 

[Valv.Piti]

What a lame finish

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Mas, Buchmann, Schmid and Chaves among those losing 11 seconds. Martinez had a mechanical and will have lost a lot more, GC may be out of the window for Ineos.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

grazie a RHD

GC

 

[RedheadDane]

And here's a top-10, if people are interested:

1	SCHELLING Ide	BORA - hansgrohe	50	50	10″	4:53:33
2	SOBRERO Matteo	Team Jayco AlUla	20	30	6″	,,
3	GAUDU David	Groupama - FDJ	8	18	4″	,,
4	ARANBURU Alex	Movistar Team		13		,,
5	MCNULTY Brandon	UAE Team Emirates		10		,,
6	BAGIOLI Andrea	Soudal - Quick Step		7		,,
7	URÁN Rigoberto	EF Education-EasyPost		4		,,
8	SCARONI Christian	Astana Qazaqstan Team		3		,,
9	GUGLIELMI Simon	Team Arkéa Samsic		2		,,
10	GUERREIRO Ruben	Movistar Team		1		,,

 

[AlfaLum]

Mas, Buchmann, Schmid and Chaves among those losing 11 seconds. Martinez had a mechanical and will have lost a lot more, GC may be out of the window for Ineos.

Martinez lost 30 seconds and finished on Plapps bike. Will be hard for him now to win it, but a good GC is not over yet.

 

[nightowl]

Martinez lost 30 seconds and finished on Plapps bike. Will be hard for him now to win it, but a good GC is not over yet.

Hopefully this means Ineos will ride aggressively and make the race more entertaining

 

[Filippo_3467]

Schelling had such bad luck last year so that win (even though the finale was really weird) will feel for him like a win over all those troubles. It seems like he can fulfill this year the promise of 2021. He was close in Catalunya with three great results and now the first WT win. Brabantse and Amstel are his season highlights I think so will be interesting if he can go for a good result there as well.

It was a real individual win as well as Bora was once again really badly positioned and got a bit lucky there that Higuita didn't loose time. As for Buchmann the team was very clear that Higuita is the GC captain so I think we will see Buchmann on the attack or in breakaways later in the race as Higuita will sit in. There are also 2 stages that I think are tailor made for Higuita so maybe they can score another stage win.

Movistar is another story they were pushing but Mas couldn't hold on. Itzulia often is a seconds game and with no prologue or real mountain top finish even more so, so that can cost mas the victory in the end. With Martinez also loosing time it seems like a duel between gaudu and Jonas could be the probable thing here.

 

[gunara]

The race has an early 2.1 feel to it now, only with more WT colours, although weird sprints are nothing too weird for it. Curious to see how it'll be developed without Arrate and TT, hopefully it'll deliver, chaotically if necessary, but I keep my hope moderated.

 

[titan31]

Soler crashed on that final descent and out. Thats a shame, would have reckoned he would have challenged for the GC.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Ruben Guerreiro might actually be a better threat for Movistar than Mas here. He's looked quietly sharp so far.

 

[Escarabajo]

Soler crashed on that final descent and out. Thats a shame, would have reckoned he would have challenged for the GC.

Riders were not happy about the finish:

'Shameful', 'way too dangerous' – riders condemn Itzulia Basque Country finish

Fast, twisting descent in the finale of stage 2 in Leitza draws rider complaints

www.cyclingnews.com

 

[Red Rick]

Riders were not happy about the finish:

'Shameful', 'way too dangerous' – riders condemn Itzulia Basque Country finish

Fast, twisting descent in the finale of stage 2 in Leitza draws rider complaints

www.cyclingnews.com

Would help if riders complained before rather than look at profiles the evening before.

 

[AlfaLum]

Would help if riders complained before rather than look at profiles the evening before.

well that doesn’t make the finish less ridiculous.

 

[rokovski]

Riders were not happy about the finish:

'Shameful', 'way too dangerous' – riders condemn Itzulia Basque Country finish

Fast, twisting descent in the finale of stage 2 in Leitza draws rider complaints

www.cyclingnews.com

You know profile and attack uphill and ride downhill alone, not like tourist ride uphill and crying about dangerous finish.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Missed the stage today, sad that I did . Landismo is alive

 

[Samamba]

You know profile and attack uphill and ride downhill alone, not like tourist ride uphill and crying about dangerous finish.

This must be a troll

 

[wansteadimp]

Would help if riders complained before rather than look at profiles the evening before.

Cavagna did have a moan about the finish in his pre race interview.

 

[hayneplane]

Seems like Ineos really messed up having Hayter work on the front mid stage when he could have survived the climbs at the rate the peloton ride them and could have had a second stage win in succession.

 

[Samamba]

Seems like Ineos really messed up having Hayter work on the front mid stage when he could have survived the climbs at the rate the peloton ride them and could have had a second stage win in succession.

Not a chance Hayter would've won this stage. He's horrible at descending.