2021 ITZULIA BASQUE COUNTRY STAGE 5 RESULTS — 1,2 FOR QUICK STEP

Itzulia Basque Country 2021 - Mikkel Honore (DEN - Deceuninck - Quick-Step) - Josef Cerny (CZE - Deceuninck - Quick-Step)

Mikkel Honore of Deceuninck-QuickStep won stage five of the Tour of the Basque Country ahead of his teammate Josef Cerny on Friday as contenders for the overall title all finished together. The Deceuninck pair fist-bumped as they cruised to the line after a long break off the Basque coastline.

“I wish Cerny could be with me here on the podium,” Denmark’s Honore said.

“We treated it like a one-day race and the tactic paid off when we got away on the final climb,” he said, after he and his teammate beat the main pack by 28 seconds.

While there were no spectators at either the start or finish lines, there were clusters of passionate fans encouraging the riders on the regular inclines.

A post-lunch start for a relatively flat 160km run from the beachfront in Hondarribia provided the calm before the storm expected on Saturday’s big-gun, mountain-laden final day showdown.

The young American Brandon McNulty of UAE Team Emirates retains the overall leader’s yellow jersey, 23 seconds ahead of Jumbo’s Primoz Roglic. But the steep inclines, including a summit finish Saturday, will see McNulty tested to the limit, with an elbow-to-elbow contest between Roglic and his 2020 Tour de France nemesis Tadej Pogacar expected.

Brandon McNulty (USA – UAE Team Emirates) – Tadej Pogacar (SLO – UAE Team Emirates)

RESULTS

1	HONORÉ Mikkel Frølich	Deceuninck – Quick Step	3:39:54
2	ČERNÝ Josef	Deceuninck – Quick Step	0:00
3	BERNARD Julien	Trek – Segafredo	0:17
4	IMPEY Daryl	Israel Start-Up Nation	0:28
5	CLARKE Simon	Team Qhubeka ASSOS	0:28
6	OLDANI Stefano	Lotto Soudal	0:28
7	ROGLIČ Primož	Team Jumbo-Visma	0:28
8	SIMON Julien	Team Total Direct Energie	0:28
9	CORT Magnus	EF Education – Nippo	0:28
10	POGAČAR Tadej	UAE-Team Emirates	0:28

OVERALL RESULTS

1	MCNULTY Brandon	UAE-Team Emirates	16:05:43
2	ROGLIČ Primož	Team Jumbo-Visma	0:23
3	VINGEGAARD Jonas	Team Jumbo-Visma	0:28
4	BILBAO Pello	Bahrain – Victorious	0:36
5	POGAČAR Tadej	UAE-Team Emirates	0:43
6	YATES Adam	INEOS Grenadiers	1:02
7	BUCHMANN Emanuel	BORA – hansgrohe	1:07
8	VALVERDE Alejandro	Movistar Team	1:13
9	IZAGIRRE Ion	Astana – Premier Tech	1:15
10	LANDA Mikel	Bahrain – Victorious	1:23

Itzulia Basque Country 2021 – Tadej Pogacar (SLO – UAE Team Emirates) – Brandon McNulty (USA – UAE Team Emirates)

RBA/AFP Photos: Bettini