Mikel Landa took his first win in two years as he claimed the overall victory at the Vuelta a Burgos, after a showdown on the steep climb of Lagunas de Neila.
Hugh Carthy won the last stage, finishing five seconds ahead of Einer Rubio (Movistar), while Simon Yates (Bike Exchange) was third and Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) was fourth.
“I wasn’t really feeling that great to be honest,” Carthy said. “I was at the back all day and towards the end I was moving up, little by little, gaining places in the peloton.”
“This is the greatest way to finish the Vuelta a Burgos, especially with Hugh as he gets ready for the Vuelta a Espana,” said EF sports director Juanma Garate. “We were here as practice with more or less the same guys that are going to be at the Vuelta and we had some good practice in the wind and as a team but we didn’t have any results until today.”
Race leader Romain Bardet started the day 45 seconds ahead of the then second-place Landa but crumbled on the final climb.
Fabio Aru (Qhubeka NextHash) finished a surprising second overall at 36 seconds with Mark Padun (Bahrain Victorious) in third at 43 seconds, while Bardet slipped to sixth overall.
5ª etapa | #VueltaBurgos
? Últimos metros coronando Lagunas de Neila (Especial ⛰️)
? Hugh Carthy – @EFprocycling
? Einer Rubio – @movistar_team
? @SimonYatess – @GreenEDGEteam #BurgosCycling #CapitalMundialdelCiclismo pic.twitter.com/FE0P4UHtZN— Vuelta a Burgos (@VueltaBurgos) August 7, 2021
