Tour of the Basque Country 2021: Honoré wins from breakaway, McNulty still leader

fotobureau Cor VosDeceunick-QuickStep riders Josef Cerny and Mikkel Frølich Honoré drop their breakaway companion Julien Bernard in the last 5 kilometres. Honoré takes the win, while Brandon McNulty stays in the overall race lead. (Slideshow route/profile)

Results 5th stage 2021 Itzulia Basque Country

1. Mikkel Honoré (den)
2. Josef Cerny (cze) s.t.
3. Julien Bernard (fra) + 0.17
4. Daryl Impey (rsa) + 0.28
5. Simon Clarke (aus) s.t.
6. Stefano Oldani (ita) s.t.
7. Primoz Roglic (slo) s.t.
8. Julien Simon (fra) s.t.
9. Magnus Cort (den) s.t.
10. Tadej Pogacar (slo) s.t.

GC after stage 5
1. Brandon McNulty (usa)
2. Primoz Roglic (slo) + 0.23
3. Jonas Vingegaard (den) + 0.28
4. Pello Bilbao (spa) + 0.36
5. Tadej Pogacar (slo) + 0.43
6. Adam Yates (gbr) + 1.02
7. Emanuel Buchmann (ger) + 1.07
8. Alejandro Valverde (spa) + 1.13
9. Ion Izagirre (spa) + 1.15
10. Mikel Landa (spa) + 1.23

Race report
The breakaway forms early on. Ide Schelling, Josef Cerny, Mikkel Frølich Honoré, Andrey Amador and Julien Bernard open up a 2 minutes gap before Andreas Leknessund rejoins them after a long chase.

On the last ascent of the day Cerny, Honoré and Bernard push on together. Aranburu and Fraile go after the three without coming closer. The peloton is more than 1 minute behind.

The Deceuninck-QuickStep tandem drops Bernard on a uphill kick inside the last 5 kilometres to extend the lead to 17 seconds.

The two cross the line in celebration, Honoré a few centimetres ahead of Cerny.

McNulty remains the overall race leader, 23 seconds ahead of Roglic with Vingegaard 5 seconds further behind.

Another interesting read: route 5th stage 2021 Tour of the Basque Country.