After a chaotic final few kilometres, Paul Lapeira has sprinted to victory on stage of the 2024 Itzulia Basque Country from a reduced bunch.
With there some debate among analysts as to whether this stage was for the breakaway or the sprinters, five attackers attempted to try their luck out front, including Alexis Vuillermoz (TotalEnergies) and Jetse Bol (Burgos - BH).
BORA - hansgrohe were fulfilling their role at the front of the peloton as the team of the race leader, but decided to keep the break on a relatively slack leash, around 3:30 for most of the day.
Although BORA began to get some help at the front and the pace started to rise, the breakaway (now down to just 4), were managing to keep the 3:00 gap at 50km to go.
Despite the best efforts of the break though, they couldn't hold off the peloton forever and with 13km to go, their day out front had been brought to an end.
With a bonus second intermediate sprint to go before the finale, GC teams were coming to the fore. In the end, it was really tight between, Remco Evenepoel, Mattias Skjelmose, Isaac del Toro and Juan Ayuso, with del Toro the one to take maximum bonifications.
Just before the safety of the 3km to go marker, Tao Geoghegan Hart hit the deck, more than likely putting an end to his GC hopes. That crash actually caused a split in the peloton as the entered the finale, with some notable names being caught out.
In the sprint for the line, it was Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team's Paul Lapeira who took the win ahead of Samuele Battistella and Louis Vervaecke in third.
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Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
- More to the point, it isn't his remaining goal.Renz08-11-2026
- lol yeahmij08-11-2026
- I know, their headlines can be so misleading. Pidcock had a great season with 5 wins. and some solid 2nds. no reason to take away from that with a fake headline.mij08-11-2026
- You can clearly see the the posture change from slightly sitting to again out of the saddle while changing of gears in the video of the sprintabstractengineer08-11-2026
- He has already beaten Pogi twice in the TDF. the achievement is over. He cannot beat Pogi now and he only has a few years left at the top. Win Giro and compete in the TDF, maximise palmares.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
- I said looking at the photo it doesn’t appear she deviated. Chill out, not stating my word is the final judgement. Just commenting that based on the photo I don’t see it. And BTW the Dutch coach even said she didn’t impede her.mij08-11-2026
- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
- MS said she was changing gears so that caused her slight deviation. Nothing was intentional.frieders308-11-2026
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#Itzulia2024 🌶️ / 🇫🇷 Paul Lapeira (DAT) vainqueur sous la pluie et dans un final chaotique… #LesRP
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