Itzulia Basque Country 2024 Stage 6

April 6, 2024 Over 3,300M of elevation gain over less than 140KM meant that Stage 6 would be decisive on the overall GC. A large break of 22 riders got away comprised of teams hoping to get a stage result and put Lidl-Trek under pressure. The front split up to include only seven over the top of the Gorla climb and had nearly four minutes over the peloton. The break consolidated again to the full group on the flat run to the Krabelin climb. Marc Soler of UAE attacked out of the peloton in an attempt to bridge to the front. Over the Krabelin, eight riders remained at the front and Soler joined a group that was dropped from the main break. The Soler group got within a minute of the leaders but Bora-Hansgrohe put Bob Jungles on the front to assist Lidl-Trek. The extra effort reigned Soler in a bit but he was able to bridge to the front with 41KM remaining, still with a minute back to the GC favorites which made him the virtual race leader. The front group exploded when they hit the Izua climb. Esteban Chaves of EF-Education EasyPost was first to move but was countered by Oscar Onley of DSM-Firmenich. In the peloton, race leader Mattias Skjelmose of Lidl-Trek accelerated but Juan Ayuso of UAE countered and seemed to crack Skjelmose. Ayuso bridged to Soler with 1KM left in the climb so Soler had to commit to Ayuso. Onley was first over Izua with twenty five seconds on Soler, Ayuso and Chaves. Skjelmose was another twenty seconds back with 26.5KM to go. Skjelmose got together with Carlos Rodríguez from Ineos and the pair caught the Ayuso group on the descent. Onley was also brought back, making six at the front. On the final climb, Soler emptied the tank and Ayuso attacked. Only Rodríguez was able follow, leaving Skjelmose behind. Rodríguez rode with Ayuso and the pair had thirty seconds over the top with 12KM to go. They would not be caught and Rodríguez would take the win and the bonus seconds with Ayuso taking the overall GC win. As Skjelmose came in, Soler pipped him on the line to take third and the final bonus seconds. Skjelmose lost second place overall to Rodríguez in the process by a single second.