Sergio Higuita surged away from a small elite group in the closing straight to cruise to victory in the fifth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on Saturday.
Jonas Vingegaard finished safely tucked in the leading group of 20 to retain the overall lead. His closest pursuers Mikel Landa finished in the group but lost a second on an intermediate sprint.
Vingegaard, a Dane who rides for Jumbo-Visma, gained a second on Landa, a Spaniard with Bahrain Victorious to lead by 13 seconds heading into the mountainous final stage on Saturday.
Higuita, a Colombian with Bora, said he had targeted the stage.
“Positioning was important,” he said. “I knew I had to go early because it was a very fast finish and if you wait too long it is difficult to get back.
“So I went from long and I had enough strength to stay ahead.” Andrea Bagioli, who had been trying to guide Swiss Soudal-QuickStep team-mate Mauro Schmid to the line, gave chase and finished second.
“The last metres were a bit chaotic,” said the Italian. “Higuita anticipated us.” Mattias Skjelmose, a Dane with Trek-Segafredo, was third and climbed to third overall.
He is 32 seconds behind his compatriot Vingegaard but only eight seconds ahead of the 11th place rider.
The pack spent much of a warm spring day chasing an early breakaway by Mattia Cattaneo and Remi Cavagna over a hilly 165.9km circuit that began and ended in Amorebieta-Etxano.
“It was a very tricky day, a very warm day,” said Vingegaard. “It was a big fight to bring the break-away back.”The rugged race ends on Saturday with a challenging 137.8km circuit starting and ending in Eibar. There are seven categorised ascents and three are rated first category.
“It’s always a big mess in the last day here,” said Vingegaard. “Tomorrow we will have to do every-thing we can to defend the jersey.”—APP
