Ben Healy put in a heroic effort from the breakaway on the final stage of Itzulia, but it was João Almeida who sealed the overall win with a composed performance on Arrate, backed by a dominant UAE Team Emirates.
It was the final stage of Itzulia, which usually delivers exciting action and unexpected turns, but not today, as UAE controlled everything and made the race very hard on the climbs. Oscar Onley burned 2718 kilojoules over 3 hours, averaging 15.48 kj/kg/h.
Ben Healy was in the breakaway and was by far the strongest rider, dropping Dani Martínez on Arrate and delivering the performance of the day, pushing 6.94 ᵉW/kg for 12:09 min. Meanwhile, in the GC group, Marc Soler and Isaac Del Toro set up João Almeida’s attack. Almeida distanced everyone except Enric Mas, producing 6.86 ᵉW/kg. Del Toro, Nys, Skjelmose, and Soler were not far behind, losing just 7 seconds to Almeida on the climb and bridging back shortly after.
They were nowhere near Jonas Vingegaard’s 2023 record, when the Dane climbed it in 11:21 min at 7.44 ᵉW/kg. Ayuso, too, was 26 seconds faster than Almeida last year, showing how hard the stage was today.
Despite Healy being clearly the strongest in the breakaway, he was caught by the GC riders and later dropped by Almeida and Mas. Skjelmose lost a potential podium place after crashing on a wet descent. Almeida finally defended his lead and secured a significant stage race victory, with Enric Mas collecting yet another second place in a Spanish WorldTour stage race.
Despite Alex Aranburu’s heroic efforts and seventh place in the GC, Cofidis still earned fewer points, with Simone Velasco and Clément Champoussin finishing ninth and eleventh overall.
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