Rain and great spectacle in the sixth stage of the Itzulia Basque Country, with start and finish in Eibar, where the yellow jersey of Joao Almeida flew victoriously in front of his breakaway companion Enric Mas (Movistar), putting his final stamp on the general classification. The UAE Team Emirates XRG Portuguese rider wins a grueling stage made challenging by prohibitive weather conditions that tested the athletes' endurance. Almeida, Mas, Healy and later Del Toro were the main protagonists in the final moments where riders like Schachmann, Lipowitz, Aranburu, Velasco (who finished seventh), Van Wilder, Buitrago and Nys were forced to surrender.

The 64th Basque Country Tour is thus handed over to Almeida and UAE Team Emirates XRG, which confirms itself as the strongest team in the World Tour. Mas finishes second and Schachmann third. A good performance by Simone Velasco, eighth overall at 3'43" from the Portuguese rider.

STAGE RESULTS

1 ALMEIDA Joao UAE Team Emirates-XRG 03:56:54

2 MAS Enric Movistar Team + 00

3 HEALY Ben EF Education-EasyPost + 13

4 DEL TORO Isaac UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 28

5 ARANBURU Alex Cofidis + 58

6 JEGAT Jordan Team TotalEnergies + 58

7 VELASCO Simone XDS Astana Team + 01:19

8 ONLEY Oscar Team Picnic PostNL + 01:19

9 GROSSSCHARTNE Felix UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 01:19

10 CHAMPOUSSIN Clément XDS Astana Team + 01:19

11 GAROFOLI Gianmarco Soudal Quick-Step + 01:19

12 SCHACHMANN Max Soudal Quick-Step + 01:19

13 NYS Thibau Lidl-Trek + 01:19

14 VAN WILDER Ilan Soudal Quick-Step + 01:19

15 BERTHET Clément Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team + 01:19

16 BUITRAGO Santiago Bahrain Victorious + 01:19

17 MARTIN-GUYONNET Guillaume Groupama-FDJ + 01:23

18 VERGALLITO Luca Alpecin-Deceun

FINAL STANDINGS

1 ALMEIDA Joao UAE Team Emirates-XRG 20:04:49

2 MAS Enric Movistar Team + 01:52

3 SCHACHMANN Max Soudal Quick-Step + 01:59

4 LIPOWITZ Florian Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 02:07

5 VAN WILDER Ilan Soudal Quick-Step + 02:18

6 SKJELMOSE Mattias Lidl-Trek + 02:19

7 ARANBURU Alex Cofidis + 02:45

8 VELASCO Simone XDS Astana Team + 03:43

9 ONLEY Oscar Team Picnic PostNL + 03:50

10 CHAMPOUSSIN Clément XDS Astana Team + 03:55

11 BERTHET Clément Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team + 04:04

12 MARTIN-GUYONNET Guillaume Groupama-FDJ + 04:07

13 BUITRAGO Santiago Bahrain Victorious + 04:16

14 JEGAT Jordan Team TotalEnergies + 04:26

15 DEL TORO Isaac UAE Team Emirates-XRG + 04:56

16 VERGALLITO Luca Alpecin-Deceuninck + 05:03

17 KELDERMAN Wilco Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 05:51

18 CRAS Steff Team TotalEnergies + 06:55

19 LAURANCE Axel INEOS Grenadiers + 08:21

20 COBO Ivan Equipo Kern Pharma + 08:21

21 TEJADA Harold XDS Astana Team + 08:34

22 ROLLAND Brieuc Groupama-FDJ + 08:43

23 IRIBAR Unai Equipo Kern Pharma + 09:16

24 GRÉGOIRE Romain Groupama-FDJ + 09:32

25 BISIAUX Léo Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team + 09:33

26 DIAZ Jose Manuel Burgos Burpellet BH + 10:00

27 VALTER Attila Team Visma | Lease a Bike + 11:52

28 VOISARD Yannis Tudor Pro Cycling Team + 20:12

29 HEALY Ben EF Education-EasyPost + 20:16

30 GAROFOLI Gianmarco Soudal Quick-Step + 20:23