Paul Seixas made his mark for the third time at the Basque Country Tour, the young Frenchman claimed the queen stage in Eibar ahead of his direct rival Florian Lipowitz. Despite the numerous climbs of the day, none proved decisive enough to make a difference between the two athletes who battled it out in a two-man sprint. However, an attack 30 km from the finish proved decisive, with Lipowitz and Seixas remaining alone at the front. Third place went to an extremely unlucky Javier Romo, who fell on a climb just as he had managed to rejoin the two leaders.

THE RACE. One could only expect a battle from the queen stage of the Basque Country Tour and indeed the 176.2 km of the fifth day of racing saw numerous attacks on the climbs. Starting and finishing in Eibar, with 8 categorized climbs and 3,800 meters of elevation gain.

The first part of the race was characterized by continuous attacks and counterattacks. On the Kalbario climb, after approximately 85 km, Steven Kruijswijk (Visma Lease a Bike) and Baptiste Veistroffer (Lotto Intermarche) managed to gain an advantage. As happened yesterday, a massive breakaway of 28 other riders formed: Quentin Pacher, Clement Braz Afonso and Guillaume Martin (Grupama FDJ United), Michael Leonard, Ben Healy and Markel Beloki (EF Education EasyPost), Tobias Halland Johannessen and Andreas Kron (Uno X Mobility), Kevin Vauquelin (INEOS Grenadiers), Mikel Bizkarra (Euskaltel Euskadi), Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), Mattia Gaffuri and Juan Guillermo Martinez (Team Picnic PostNL), Raul Garcia Pierna and Juan Pedro Lopez (Team Movistar), Nicolas Prodhomme (Decathlon CMA CGM Team), Ibon Ruiz (Euipo Kern Pharma), Adria Pericas and Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates XRG), Tijmane Graat and Menno Huising (Team Visma Lease a Bike), Samuel Fernandez (Caja Rural Seguros), Hugo Houle (Alpecin Premier Tech), Steff Cras and Mauri Vansevenant (Soudal Quick Step), Christian Scaroni and Lorenzo Fortunato (Team XDS Astana), Haimar Etxeberria (Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe)

The race heated up on the Krabelin climb where Florian Lipowitz made his move, receiving an immediate response from Paul Seixas and exploding the group. They skillfully made their way back to the front of the race, which had meanwhile lost riders. The other general classification contenders managed to rejoin the race leader by taking advantage of the long descent, while we witnessed the collapse of Ben Tulett and Mattias Skjelmose.

On several occasions Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates XRG) attempted to attack, but the race ignited again on the Izua climb. Along the penultimate ascent of the day, approximately 30 km from the finish, Lipowitz and Seixas attacked repeatedly, remaining alone at the front. Javier Romo (Team Movistar) had managed to rejoin the two attackers just before the summit, but he went down, most likely due to contact with Lipowitz.

At the front of the race, Paul Seixas took on the pace-setting duties, finding only partial collaboration from Florian Lipowitz, but they managed to distance the other general classification contenders. The two attackers then battled it out in a sprint for the stage. The major change in the general classification occurred between second and third place with Lipowitz overtaking his teammate Roglic.

«It was a difficult stage, but I already had the idea of winning it this morning. Once again my teammates did incredible work controlling the race and even managing to get into the massive early breakaway. I tried several times on the climbs, but Lipowitz was really strong all the way to the end - said Paul Seixas - tomorrow we have a very demanding day ahead, almost 140 km and it should rain, so we'll need to be very careful. My opponents are strong and will want to win at all costs.»

Tomorrow will see the sixth and final stage of the Basque Country Tour, 135.4 km from Goizper - Antzoula to Bergare, an unprecedented stage full of many pitfalls.

STAGE RESULTS

1 Seixas Paul Decathlon CMA CGM Team 04:30:02

2 Lipowitz Florian Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 00

3 Romo Javier Movistar Team + 01:03

4 Vauquelin Kévin INEOS Grenadiers + 01:11

5 Izagirre Ion Cofidis + 01:11

6 Tejada Harold XDS Astana Team + 01:11

7 Johannessen Tobias Halland Uno-X Mobility + 01:11

8 Champoussin Clément XDS Astana Team + 01:11

9 Bilbao Pello Bahrain Victorious + 01:11

10 Baudin Alex EF Education-EasyPost + 01:11

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION

1 Seixas Paul Decathlon CMA CGM Team 16:33:45

2 Lipowitz Florian Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 02:30

3 Roglic Primoz Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe + 03:40

4 Izagirre Ion Cofidis + 03:50

5 Baudin Alex EF Education-EasyPost + 04:12

6 Tejada Harold XDS Astana Team + 04:29

7 Uijtdebroeks Cian Movistar Team + 04:42

8 Champoussin Clément XDS Astana Team + 04:43

9 Bilbao Pello Bahrain Victorious + 05:03

10 Romo Javier Movistar Team + 05:05