Max Schachmann (Soudal-QuickStep) set the best time from the early individual time trial starters and won stage 1 of Itzulia Basque Country on Monday.
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG), making his first appearance at Itzulia, came within half a second of the German to secure second place. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) took third, a full second back, as the close times set the GC for the opening day of the week.
Schachmann, who also won the opening ITT of Itzulia Basque Country in 2019, secured his position in the hot seat early on, the 27th rider to complete the course, and 141 other riders not disturbing his comfort for nearly three hours.
US Time Trial Champion Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) was the last rider on the course and looked to be on a tear after the first time check, but he faded to 24th.
"I left it all out on the road, and of course, I'd love to start it again like I did in 2019, but there are still a lot of good riders left to come," Schachmann said once he set the best time in a post-race interview.
"It was a hard, high-speed course, with not many sections to recover, so a short but spicy start."
He said the multi-hour wait in the hot seat was almost as hard as the time trial itself, but was happy with the outcome, which was 20 months since his last UCI stage victory.
"The Basque country seems to be good soil for me. It's beautiful to be back in the leader's jersey here.
"I'm very overwhelmed. It's a long time since winning a WorldTour race, and I'm very thankful that my team believed in me."
How it unfolded
Three of the last four Itzulia Basque Country stage races have started with a short individual time trial, this one 16.5 kilometres and relatively uncomplicated from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Baskonia-Alavés. However, the start ramp was located inside the Fernando Buesa basketball arena, then taking the riders on a clockwise circuit to the east and back, the finish in the car park outside the arena.
A total of 168 riders would face one minor climb, the Arzubiaga (0.9 km à 2.4%) after 4.3 kilometres, which will decide the first mountains classification leader.
British time trial champion Ethan Hayter (Soudal-QuickStep) was the third rider on the course and was rewarded with rest in the hot seat, finishing in a time of 18:43.
Another 24 riders swept across the wide-open road under clear, blue skies until Schachmann looked set to post a new best time, but he made an error in the final left-hand corner, turning right onto the car deviation instead. He corrected his mistake, made a u-turn and then returned to the course for the closing metres to the line, still riding six seconds faster than Hayter and posting a time of 18:37.
A few riders later, Gianmarco Garofoli (Soudal-QuickStep) also carried his momentum in a final corner toward the same course deviation area, but correctly quickly, though he was well over a minute behind Schachmann's time. Organisers appeared to then place a course marshal in a more obvious position for that section.
However, 16 riders later, Aleksandr Vlasov (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe) sailed wide in the same area. Vlasov lost a lot of momentum but stayed upright to close to within 10 seconds behind Schachmann, good for third place at that time.
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Lipowitz looked as if he would upset the top of the standings, coming into the race with a second overall from Paris-Nice. He rose out of the saddle for his sprint to the line but finished one second slower to take provisional second.
With 30 riders still to start, Soudal-QuickStep had a monopoly on the standings with three riders in the top five, Schachmann still in the hot seat, but the effort by Lipowitz gave the Red Bull team the other two spots.
João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) hammered on the third segment of the course, once seventh best at the second intermediate sprint, and came within 0.54 of a second to Schachmann.
Five riders behind Almeida, Tyler Stites (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) rolled down the start ramp to begin the final pack of 20, each rider having two-minute intervals and facing a slight change in weather conditions with some light wind.
Brandon McNulty was the last rider on the road (Image credit: Getty Images)
McNulty was the last man on the course and there were expectations he could disrupt the podium. Riding in the stars-and-stripes national jersey, the US rider passed through the first intermediate time check four seconds off the best time there set by Schachmann, but he lost 25 seconds over the final half of the race and finished 24th overall, 34 seconds back.
Among the GC contenders, Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), who was third overall last year, finished 12 seconds back for eighth position. Michael Leonard (Ineos Grenadiers) was 16 seconds back for 10th.
Among the pre-favourites, Enric Mas (Movistar) rolled home 1:10 down on the stage leader Schachmann and now faces a challenging time loss. Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling), likewise, was well back at 1:05 off the pace for a disappointing start to the week.
Schachmann starts stage 2 in the golden leader's jersey, and also holds the mountain classification lead. The longest stage of the race unfolds Tuesday, 199.8km from Pamplona-Iruña to Lodosa with constant undulations and just one classified climbs.
Jackie has been involved in professional sports for more than 30 years in news reporting, sports marketing and public relations. She founded Peloton Sports in 1998, a sports marketing and public relations agency, which managed projects for Tour de Georgia, Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah and USA Cycling. She also founded Bike Alpharetta Inc, a Georgia non-profit to promote safe cycling. She is proud to have worked in professional baseball for six years - from selling advertising to pulling the tarp for several minor league teams. She has climbed l'Alpe d'Huez three times (not fast). Her favorite road and gravel rides are around horse farms in north Georgia (USA) and around lavender fields in Provence (France), and some mtb rides in Park City, Utah (USA).
