In an ideal stage for his characteristics, Alex Aranburu has achieved his first victory of the season - and first since 2022 August. It was in the Baloise Belgium Tour, in an excellent day for Movistar Team, which has placed three riders in the top 10 of the day. In addition to the Basque cyclist, Carlos Canal was fifth and Gonzalo Serrano finished tenth.
After the finish, Aranburu spoke to the race microphones about his feelings after beating Pierre Gautherat, who was the first to attack and whom the Spaniard followed his wheel superbly to overtake him and snatch the victory in the last meters. Jasper Philipsen led the chasing group sprint, finishing third.
"We knew the finish was very good, Trek played very well and rode a hard race, but the team worked very well and we were able to get 10 seconds at the finish and the stage win. For now I'm happy with today, we wanted a stage win."
Aranburu also commented on his chances in the general classification. There is one stage left and it will be flatter than today's, with a much less hard finish in which faster riders like Philipsen, Olav Kooij or Tim Merlier should aspire to victory. But the Movistar leader does not rule out going for it and taking advantage of the bonuses to give more than one rider a scare.
"Now let's enjoy today and tomorrow we'll try to move up places. I'm a bit fast but I'm not a top sprinter, I climb a bit well and I have a bit of speed."
Soren Waerenskjold (Uno-X Mobility) held on to the leader's jersey by just 2 seconds over Mathias Vacek (Lidl-Trek), while Aranburu was only 6 seconds behind. The sprinters are too far away to challenge for the overall, even with bonuses, as the best placed Philipsen is 20 seconds behind the Norwegian.
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