Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) took his second consecutive stage win at the Vuelta al Pais Vasco on Thursday. The Spaniard out-sprinted Bauke Mollema (Trek) and Simon Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) to take the win in the finish town of Arrate. Sergio Henao (Sky) retained the lead in the general classification thanks to a fifth-place finish on the day.

A sizeable breakaway went off the front early in the day, consisting of Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), Tom Danielson (Cannondale-Garmin), Peio Bilbao (Caja Rural), Rohan Dennis and Philippe Gilbert (BMC), Lieuwe Westra (Astana), Michal Golas (Etixx-QuickStep), Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge), Bob Jungels and Fabio Felline (Trek), Maxime Monfort (Lotto Soudal), Matteo Bono (Lampre-Merida), Nicki Sorensen (Tinkoff-Saxo), Yoann Bragot and Romain Hardy (Cofidis).

However, that group disintegrated just 40 kilometres into the race, and Martin, Danielson, Hardy and Bilbao were left to soldier on alone. The latter two were unable to handle the pace set by Martin and Danielson, and were swept up by the bunch.

Sky were keen to see the break reeled in, with Martin just a minute down on Henao's leading time in the general classification, and set a high tempo at the front of the peloton in an attempt to bring the duo back into the main field. Movistar were also present on the front, working for Nairo Quintana, but Rodriguez and Katusha suffered a setback when Angel Vicioso crashed out of the race.

Rodriguez then suffered a mechanical problem with 24 kilometres remaining and was forced to chase back to the bunch.

Martin and Danielson's time out in front came to an end when the latter dropped his chain on the penultimate descent of the day, and by the time the peloton reached the final climb they had swallowed up the hard-working duo. Ilnur Zakarin (Katusha) and Ion Izagirre (Movistar) made a move on the final climb, with the former launching a solo effort three kilometres from the finish.

Henao countered and managed to bridge the gap, but the two were brought back by the bunch shortly afterwards. Izagirre made another attempt to break clear, but again failed to make his attack stick. Henao remained on the front despite Katusha's efforts, but in the final stages Rodriguez nipped past the Colombian and took the win.

“Finally! Arrate had been a thorn in my side, above all when Valverde beat me in a photo finish in the Vuelta,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t even raise my hands [at the finish] as I didn’t want anyone to pass me. I am so happy.

“I have already said I am feeling great,” he added. “You had to be in form to be able to stay with Quintana and Henao yesterday.

“Tomorrow is the stage I like most, but it will be difficult to take the leader’s jersey from Henao because he is in splendid form.”

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Jamie Hall
Cycling editor and football writer. Currently studying sports journalism at university.