There was a bunch sprint on the 176-kilometre stage from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Amorebieta-Etxano. Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) opened the sprint early on and was initially able to pull away. It was then Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) who closed the gap to the leader and had two riders from Team Groupama-FDJ, Quentin Pacher and Romain Gregoire, on his wheel. In the end, it came down to a decision by centimetres between Schachmann, Gregoire, who dropped out behind the German, and the charging Orluis Aular (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA). Thanks to his tiger's leap, Gregoire was just ahead at the finish and relegated his rivals to second and third place.
Schachmann's tour de force is not rewarded
Before stage 5 of the Tour of the Basque Country 2024, Maximilian Schachmann of the German team Bora-Hansgrohe was in fourth place overall. The 30-year-old showed that he was in good shape just 13 kilometres from the finish: He launched an attack out of the peloton to join the interim lead group.
In the end, there was a bunch sprint in which the Berlin-born rider once again caught the eye: he closed the gap to the leader Carlos Rodriguez with a show of strength. However, he then had to concede defeat to Gregoire, who won by the skin of his teeth ahead of Schachmann. With third place on the day, Maximilian Schachmann has now moved up to second place overall ahead of the final stage and is just two seconds behind the overall leader Mattias Skjelmose.
"I am very happy! It went perfectly in the final. I was put in an ideal position by my team-mates. I had to fight until the end and when I crossed the finish line, I didn't know whether I had won or not." - Romain Gregoire in the winner interview
Tour of the Basque Country 2024 - Results: the top 10 of stage 5
- Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) 3:43:28
- Orluis Aular (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) +0:00
- Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:00
- Quentin Pacher (Groupama-FDJ) +0:00
- Alex Aranburu (Movistar) +0:00
- Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00
- Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:00
- Damien Howson (Q36.5 Cycling Team) +0:00
- Samuele Battistella (Astana Qazaqstan Team) +0:00
- Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) +0:00
Tour of the Basque Country 2024: the overall standings
- Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek) 12:19:39
- Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) +0:02
- Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) +0:04
- Kevin Vauquelin (Arkea-B&B Hotels) +0:06
- Romain Gregoire (Groupama-FDJ) +0:08
- Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates) +0:13
- Bruno Armirail (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) +0:14
- Pello Bilbao (Bahrain-Victorious) +0:15
- Alex Aranburu (Movistar) +0:23
- Jordan Jegat (TotalEnergies) +0:30
This is how the 5th stage of the 2024 Tour of the Basque Country went
After a start without any clear attacks, individual riders repeatedly increased the pace to form a breakaway group. Numerous riders wanted to be in the leading group of the day on stage 5 - but there were simply too many riders, so the peloton was always able to parry the pace increases. Mauro Schmid (Team Jayco-AlUla), among others, showed his commitment but was unable to break away from the peloton for the time being.
Landa also has to give up
With 94 kilometres to go, a breakaway group had still not formed and there was a crash in the peloton. Mikel Landa (Soudal - Quick Step) also crashed and had to abandon the race afterwards. After the heavy crash the day before, this was another prominent casualty.
With 89 kilometres to go, it was Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates) and Sepp Kuss (Visma | Lease a Bike) who were able to break away from the peloton in a tandem. Lidl-Trek in particular reacted in the peloton, controlling the race for their man in the yellow jersey Mattias Skjelmose and not letting the two leaders off the leash. After around 35 kilometres, the two riders' ride was over and they were swallowed up by the peloton.
Numerous unsuccessful escape attempts
A short time later, Ivan Cobo (Equipo Kern Pharma) tried to escape to the front, taking eight other riders with him around Mauro Schmid and Johannes Staune-Mittet (Visma | Lease a Bike). They were then caught 38 kilometres from the finish in a mountain classification, where Santiago Buitrago (Bahrain-Victorious) was the first to cross the finish line.
The next clear attack followed after 28 kilometres, in which five riders broke away: Johannes Staune-Mittet, Remy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ), Michal Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers), Ibon Ruiz (Equipo Kern Pharma) and Mark Donovan (Q36.5 Cycling Team) harmonised well and extended their lead for the time being, before they were caught 13 kilometres from the finish.
As a result, riders continued to try and break away from the peloton - including Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates). Ultimately, however, nobody managed to create a sufficient gap, which led to a bunch sprint. This was won by Romain Gregoire, just ahead of Orluis Aular and Maximilian Schachmann.
