Jonas Vingegaard eased to victory in the sixth and final stage to claim the Itzulia Basque Country title for the first time on Saturday.
The Danish rider finished ahead of James Knox and Ion Izagirre to lay the groundwork before the defence of his Tour de France title, with this year’s race starting in northern Spain.
As in the third and fourth stages, where he showed his strength on the Hika and Asturiana climbs, Vingegaard responded to Izagirre’s first attack 30km from the line, then flew away alone, after being followed for a while by Enric Mas.
At the finish line, the 26-year-old finished nearly 50 seconds ahead of the chasing group.
“It was a hard day, but a really good day for us,” Vingegaard said. “Once again I have to thank my teammates, today they were amazing, they really locked up the race, having two guys in the break. We did a perfect job today I think.
“I was thinking if I have to go it’s on the second last climb because last one was not hard enough to make a big difference. I had the legs and I wanted to try.”
It is Vingegaard’s second race win of the season after his Gran Camino triumph in Galicia. He finished third in Paris-Nice behind Tadej Pogacar and David Gaudu.
? De camino a la gloria ?
➡️ Pausoz pauso, garaipena lortu du Jonasek, ZORIONAK ‼️#Itzulia2023 pic.twitter.com/rI8301Zfne
— Itzulia Basque Country (@ehitzulia) April 8, 2023
