MADRID: Mikel Iturria dug deep to register his first ever professional win as a mass escape dominated stage 11 at the Vuelta a Espana on Wednesday. Iturria (Euskadi-Murias) pulled clear of a group that came in 18 minutes ahead of the peloton in the final kilometres and the 27-year-old held on for an impressive win in the Pyrenees.
Another Spaniard Jonathan Lastra (Caja Rural) was second, with America’s Lawson Craddock (Education First) coming in third, both part of a chasing pack that finished six seconds behind. None of the 14 breakaway riders posed a threat to Primoz Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), the Slovenian who retains the overall leader’s red jersey ahead of stage 12 on Thursday.
Roglic remains 1min 52sec ahead of Spain’s Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) and 2 min 11sec in front of Colombiam Miguel Angel Lopez (Astana) in the general standings, all of whom finished in the same time.
Iturria, whose hometown of Urnieta is around 50km from the finish, admitted he had to fight for his success.
“I am so happy,” said Iturria. “I have never won as a professional so to win here at the Vuelta a Espana, so close to home, in a stage I used to come to see, is a dream come true. I attacked at full speed, with all I had, there were a lot of kilometres left and it was a bit of a gamble. I opened up a gap and from there to the finish line, it was just about holding on, holding on and holding on.”
With more strenuous tests to come, the peloton saved their legs across the 180-kilometre route between Saint-Palais in France and Urdax-Dantxarinea in northern Spain.
The breakaway group was established after 40km, with Angel Madrazo (Burgos-BH), Ben O’Connor (Dimension Data), Alexander Aranburu (Caja Rural) and Gorka Izagirre (Astana), as well as Iturria, among those stretching the early lead to seven minutes. – AFP
