"The last climb was very hard" - Jonas Vingegaard faces tough challenge but thrives on brutal Itzulia Basque Country finale

Jonas Vingegaard showed his class on the very hard final climb of the Itzulia and took the victory and the lead of the race. After the win, he was delighted, on what was his first World Tour win of the year.

"I'm very happy to have won today, to have been able to give back with the victory the effort and good work to my teammates," he said. "Not only today, from the previous days. It's nice to win here, it's a beautiful race, one of my favorites." As several riders made moves throughout the final hour of racing Jumbo-Visma stuck to their plan, of keeping men alongside the Dane and performing a leadout into the final ramp.

Attila Valter in specific did a tremendous job, heading the peloton throughout most of the final kilometer with Vingegaard in the wheel. When the gradient tightened into double digits the Tour de France champion himself hit the front and got the winning gap over the final meters. "The last climb was very hard, not only the last one, all the ones we encountered, it was very hot today and I want to thank my teammates for the work. I am very happy," he concluded. 

It was a hard-earned win but one that came with a good reward. Vingegaard is now the new leader of the Basque race heading into stage 4 and is the man to beat for the overall classification. With longer climbs ahead however, it should be more comfortable terrain for him and the Dutch team to be able to control.