- Roglic maintains his lead
- Alex Aramburu won the sprint stage after a very fast descent
Alex Aramburu won the second stage of the Itzulia Basque Country. It was a rain-soaked stage during which 7 riders broke away around the 17 km mark.
The breakaway was comprised of Hermans (124, IWG), Tusveld (134, DSM) and Vermaerke (135, DSM), Gastauer (152, ACT), Irisarri (194, CJR), Cabedo (205, BBH) and Iturria (234, EUS). The peloton gained a maximum lead of 4’07” at the head of the race, which was not neutralised until the last mountain pass.
With 18.5 km to go Gaudu (43, GFC) and Pogacar (31, UAD) upped the pace and managed to create some distance from the favourites. Roglic (141, TJV), Izagirre (1, APT), Landa (171, TBV), Schachmannn (16, BOH) and co. reduced the distance and after several attacks from Pogacar (31, UAD), Schachmannn with Roglic, Higuita (64, EFN) and McNulty (33, UAD) moved ahead.
It was not until the descent from La Asturiana pass, a very technical descent, that things became competitive again and Alex Aramburu (3, APT) took advantage of the situation to race to the finish line without looking back. Increasing his lead to 30″ during the descent. And reaching the last climb with a 35″ lead over the group of favourites, which he held to take the stage in Sestao.
Schachmannn (16, BOH) won the mountain jersey, McNulty (33, UAD) maintained the youth jersey, and Roglic maintained the yellow jersey and the points jersey.
