As it happened: Itzulia Basque Country stage 5

Hello and welcome to live coverage of stage 5 of Itzulia Basque Country

Following Thursday's massive crash on the descent of the Alto de Olaeta and the subsequent abandons of numerous riders, it's no exaggeration to say that the mood in Itzulia Basque Country is muted and the horrendous consequences and aftermath for so many of the peloton are what are uppermost in the race's thoughts today.

For the latest update from Remco Evenepoel, one of the multiple DNFs on stage 4, read here:
'I hope and think my long term goals will not change' – Remco Evenepoel weighs crash consequences

Evenepoel was one of 11 abandons on Thursday, and as news comes through of the Belgian star and other riders affected,  we'll bring you the updates throughout the day.

Riders are currently in the neutralised section, actual racing is due to get underway at 1306 local time.

175.6 kilometres to go

And racing is now underway

The new race leader after Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) was one of the abandons on stage four is Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), with Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in the points lead, Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty) in the mountains jersey and Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) heading the BYR classification.

The jury is most definitely out on several of the decisions taken on Thursday afternoon after the crash on the descent of the Olaeta, and their opting to hold a post-stage podium ceremony, even in limited format, was definitely one of them. 

Two non-starters today: Sebastian Berwick (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) and Emils Liepins (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL).

A fast start with no breaks yet

14 riders try to make a move but they are quickly brought back

145 kilometres to go

Bunch still all together after 30 kilometres of racing.

The latest news on the riders, courtesy of my colleague James Moultrie, affected by the event by which, regrettably, this year's Itzulia Basque Country will most likely be remembered.

Primoz Roglic left without fractures after horrific crash, Vingegaard update reveals collapsed lung

Nearly 50 kmh average speed but no attacks yet going clear

We're now on a long descent and the peloton has split in two.

Race leader Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) is in the front group, with a second bunch some 20 seconds behind.

107 kilometres to go

Bunch is back together again. We're approaching the first cat.1 climb of the 2024 race, Urkiola. 

The cat. 1 climb, Urkiola, has a distinguished history in Basque Country cycling, being the scene of the late-lamented Subida a Urkiola one-day race. Traditionally held the day after the Clásica San Sebastián, Urkiola was last held in 2009, with the winner the former top Basque climber, Igor Anton.

It's 5.5 kilometres long Urkiola, averaging 9.4% and has a sanctuary at the top near where the finish used to be. The riders though, will take the right-hand fork in the road at the top and continue onto the finish in Amorebieta.

Reports of a crash: riders from TotalEnergies, Soudal-Quick Step and Caja Rural said to be involved.

The pattern of a breakaway gaining minimal ground and then being caught again is repeating itself time and again today. Six riders away on the Urkiola, only for Visma-Lease A Bike to reel them back in.

A generic shot of the peloton earlier on today's stage

85 kilometres to go

And yet another break tries to form, this time of eight riders.

Sepp Kuss (Visma-Lease A Bike) and Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) move slightly ahead of the peloton

Unconfirmed news of three more abandons, presumably because of the crash earlier at the foot of the Urkiola: Mikel Landa and Gil Gelders (Soudal-QuickStep) as well as Gonzalo Serrano (Movistar). Landa is a double podium finisher overall, including second last year.

Landa's abandon confirmed. After Evenepoel's untimely exit yesterday with a broken collarbone and shoulderblade, yet more bad news at Itzulia Basque Country for Soudal-QuickStep.

The bunch has split with a group of 30 riders in hot pursuit of Kuss and Del Toro.

Kuss and Del Toro have around 30 seconds on the group of 30 riders, which includes race leader Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek).

Coming up...

Km123.7: Sprint: Amorebieta-Etxano

Km137.9: Climb: Muniketagaina (Cat3: 3.4 km à 7.3%)

Km148.6: Sprint: Amorebieta-Etxano

Km163: Climb: Muniketagaina (Cat3: 3.4 km à 7.3%)

Km175.9: Finish: Amorebieta-Etxano

 Kuss and Del Toro have eked out their advantage to 46 seconds. Del Toro is the best place overall, being just 32 seconds down on leader Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) and is therefore race leader on the road.

A photo of the two stage leaders

Kuss and Del Toro have been caught

Attack by Ivan Cobo (Kerna-Pharma)

Sunny and dry for the rest of today, by the way. 23 degrees at the finish in Amorebieta, which the head of the race has just reached for the first of three times.

A nine rider break has formed ahead, and is gaining time rapidly.

The nine in question are:

Jimmy Janssens (Alpecin-Deceuninck)

Martijn Tusveld (DSM-Firmenich-PostNL)

Johannes Staune-Mettet (Visma-Lease a Bike)

Mauro Schmid (Jayco-Alula)

Harrison Wood (Cofidis)

Mathieu Burgaudeau (TotalEnergies)

Enekoitz Azparren (Euskaltel)

José Manuel Diaz (Burgos-BH)

And the rider who kicked it all off...

Ivan Cobo (Kern Pharma)

Lidl_Trek are keeping a nominal control on the front of the peloton for now, with Tusveld at 1:31 the best placed.

Shots of Landa being stretchered away into an ambulance from that earlier crash. As soon as we have updates, we'll bring them through.

The nine riders are fast approaching the Muniketagaina (Cat.3: 3.4 km à 7.3%) for the first of two ascents.

44 kilometres to go

52 seconds the gap

A profile of the cat 3 climb

The nine riders' ascent is melting away rapidly on the lower slopes of the Muniketagaina.

Skjelmose third rider back in the string heading the peloton, but Lidl-Trek only have one rider left to support him.

Janssens continues alone but there's only 25 seconds between the stage leader and the peloton.

Even if steep, it's a fairly dry, broad, smooth ascent, so maybe not as tough as the gradients would suggest.

Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates) is trying to bridge across to the break. Jonathan Castroviejo (Ineos-Grenadiers) follows.

Less than a kilometre to the summit and Janssens forges on. But the bunch have already all but caught the rest of the break.

Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain Victorious) makes a dig close to the top. He's a GC threat so interesting to see how far he gets.

37 kilometres from the top

Buitrago's move carries him over the top of the Muniketagaina and onto the fast, 7 kilometre descent.

Buitrago has been caught by Soudal-QuickStep rider William Lecerf, who overtakes the Colombian and goes solo on the fast descent.

And a break has now formed based around Buitrago and Lecerf. Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) is amongst them, along with Mathieu Burgaudeau (Total Energies).

It's quickly sucked back in again though, by the foot of the Muniketagaina, thanks to Trek's hard work

30 kilometres to go

Still to come:

Km148.6: Sprint: Amorebieta-Etxano

Km163 : Climb: Muniketagaina (Cat3: 3.4 km à 7.3%)

Km 175.9: Finish: Amorebieta-Etxano

Yet another skirmish and yet another small group goes clear including former World Champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineso Grenadiers), this time of five riders.

Back into Amorebieta

25 kilometres to go

Mark Donovan (Q36.5), Jonannes Staune-Mittet (Visma-Lease A Bike), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos-Grenadiers), Ibon Ruiz (Kern Pharma) and Remy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ) in the break.

Just 18 seconds between the five and the main pack.

29 seconds the gap now. But there's still a Cat 3 climb to come...

Kwiatkowski is only 42 seconds off the overall lead, so Lidl-Trek have no choice but to chase.

A shot of the break

Solid collaboration from the five ahead on the rolling approach to the Cat3 climb, but the gap is staying steady at 25 seconds.

Bora-Hansgrohe, Jayco-AIUIa and EF-Education First are all working hard in the chase. This ain't over by a long shot.

Less than a kilometre to the foot of the Muniketagaina

A reminder that it's a Cat3, 3.4 km à 7.3%

15.5 kilometres to go

UAE Emirates and Cofidis are working very hard, and the five-rider break is on the point of succumbing to their pressure.

Kwiatkowski and Rochas are the only two riders left now. But margins are minimal.

Counter attackers coming across to Kwiato' and Rochas now.

Kwiatkowski sits up and only Rochas ahead now.

Confirmation from Soudal-Quick Step that Mikel Landa's collarbone was broken in that crash.

Rochas is pressing on, with a five rider chase group reaching a flaggging Kwiatkowski.

Two kilometres from the top, Rochas is now joined by a group of half a dozen riders. 

Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek) sets a fierce pace behind, given GC threat Isaac del Toro (UAE) is one of the men ahead.

Only a nine second gap for the seven riders ahead and they are about to be caught.

Oscar Onley (DSM) makes a late  charge, but the peloton is sweeping up to the break, with Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) making a pronounced acceleration.

Over the top of the climb and there's a good 30 riders ahead and strung out on the long descent.

Schachmann, fourth on GC,  pushes on again with a fast drive. Skjelmose gets up to him, but the attacks keep on coming.

10 kilometres to go

Buitrago zips away briefly, but the gaps are still small.

A fast descent and a broad one for Buitrago, who has a bare 50 metres on Skjelmose, Ayuso and company, to try and open up a gap.

Buitrago is close to being caught by the Skjelmose-Schachmann group of some 20 riders.

Buitrago caught. Now what happens?

The front group is on the point of doubling in size to around 50 riders

We're off the descent and onto the flatter run-in back to Amorebieta

Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) makes a late acceleration away

McNulty has opened up a gap of 200 metres in no time at all.

6 kilometres to go

Can McNulty go the distance? The winner of the GP Miguel Indurain last Sunday, don't forget, so that's a good omen for the American.

It's a grinding, undulating terrain now which is very well suited for an allrounder like McNulty. Lidl-Trek chase behind.

A former leader in the Itzulia Basque Country, too, the 2022 race was where McNulty briefly took the top spot.

McNulty is still ahead as they head into a tunnel at the top of a last little drag.

McNulty caught and another attack goes.

Only 20-25 riders in the front group now.

The attack by a Kern Pharma rider was brought back almost before it began.

2 kilometres to go

Group of 25 riders still leading the race inc race leader Skjelmose.

No clear control as so few riders left.

Into the last kilometre now w Shachmann leading again.

A technical urban finish with two corners to come

Del Toro goes from long with Carlos Rodriguez following 

One last turn and and Ineos Carlos Rodriguze has a bit of a gap.

But Schachmann is closing in fast

And in a close sprint for the line, the winner is...

Six riders across the road at least coming over the line so close together.

Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) announced as winner but that was a very, very  close call.

Confirmed: Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) wins stage 5 of Itzulia Basque Country from Vitoria to Amorebieta-Etxano

Second was Orluis Aular (Caja Rural-SegurosRGA), with Max Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) in third.

After a strong individual and collective defense of his inherited yellow jersey, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) remains the race leader. Schachmann, though, is just two seconds back on GC thanks to his third place on the stage.

Some words from Grégoire, the day's stage winner: "It's a colossal relief. I really had to hunt hard for this, it was very fast all day long."
"I had a great leadout from [Groupama-FDJ teammate] Quentin [Pacher], I was in the perfect position with 500 metres to go. He led me out right away. There was a rider ahead who had a bit of a gap so I suffered a lot to get to the finish, and I wasn't sure I had won which was very stressful for a couple of minutes."
"It's my first WorldTour win and that really counts for something. I'm delighted." 

A first shot of Grégoire and the other sprinters powering towards the line in that ultra-tight sprint, showing just how much he had to suffer for victory

And here's a shot of Grégoire a few seconds later when it was announced he'd won. 

Here's a shot of the top ten from the stage, courtesy of FirstCycling

And here's the GC. As can be seen it's very tight overall, with just one stage remaining, which is the toughest of them all, too.

In terms of the secondary rankings, Alex Aranburu (Movistar) leads in the points ranking by one point on  stage 5 winner Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ)

Stage 4 winner Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty) is in control of the mountains ranking by five points on Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) although with so much climbing on Saturday, anything could happen. 

Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) continues in the lead of the BYR competition, the only classification leader to remain unchanged since day 1, while Emirates are also in charge of the team rankings.

For our full report on Itzulia Basque Country, with gallery, analysis and results, CN colleague James Moultrie has it all here:

Itzulia Basque Country: Romain Gregoire wins stage 5

And here's a shot of race leader Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek)

So what is on for tomorrow, the last day of 2024 Itzulia Basque Country?

Stage 6 of Itzulia Basque Country is the grand finale, featuring six classified climbs in just 137.8 kilometres. Starting and finishing in Eibar, a town famed for its links to the bicycle industry, the final ascent, the cat 3 Urkaregi, peaks out 13 kilometres from the finish.

That wraps it up for today from Itzulia Basque Country. We'll be back with more live coverage of tomorrow's final stage.