Little by little,
elite
Spanish cycling
is escaping from the gloom in which it settled in
2020
. Suffice it to say that in April he has already surpassed the five victories he achieved in total last year in
Pro and World Tour
races
. And as strange and rare as cycling was last year due to the pandemic, the data is far from irrelevant. There are already
seven wins in 2021
, after Pello Bilbao beat
Aleksandr Vlasov
and
Simon Yates
on
Thursday
in the fourth and penultimate stage of the
Tour of the Alps
. And although they do not count as victories, there are also
Mikel Landa's
performance
in Tirreno
(3rd) and
Basque Country
(8th) and especially
Valverde
in
Catalonia
(4th), Basque Country (7th),
Amstel
(5th) and
Flecha Walloon
(3rd). It already rains less for Spanish cycling.
These two names, along with those of
Mas or Izagirre
, are the first that usually come to mind when talking about great national cyclists. And it is that Bilbao is surely the most underrated cyclist in
Spain
. The only time he has attended a great lap as leader of the ranks,
last year's
Giro
, he finished fifth, after having run the Tour in Landa's service just a few weeks before. And in 2018, despite being
Miguel Ángel López's
lieutenant
, he did so in sixth position. In the one two years ago, he looked for stage victories and managed to score two. Just two weeks ago he was sixth in
Itzulia
, despite Landa's gregarious beginning, confirming his great moment of form. With this Thursday at Trentino, there are already 11 triumphs as a professional for a cyclist who seems to be reaching his peak at age 31.
The
Tour of the Alps
is a test that is not classified as the highest category but that does, by tradition, present a participation of that caliber. Along with those already mentioned, the
Carthy, Sivakov, Quintana, Dan Martin, Bardet, Sosa ... And even Froome
, continuing with his set-up to return to being who he was on the next Tour. Among all of them, the one who raised his arms was the cyclist from Gernika. The
Bahrain
rider may not be
among the best climbers in the world, but his prowess (and bravery) on the descents is comparable to that of very few riders in the current peloton. Thus, downhill, he cemented his triumph.
Because Bilbao was not able to resist the rhythm of
Sivakov and Yates
, his two companions at the finish line, on the ascent to
Bonnipatri
, a very demanding seven kilometers, with slopes of between 6% and 11% without breaks, a test for pure climbers with high capacity for suffering. It had been
Ineos
who had led the race, but it turned out that at the moment its leader,
Pavel Sivakov
, was not in the
mood
for parties. In fact, it was the pace of his own teammates that took him out of the race. It is not the first time that has happened, nor does it seem like it will be the last, to the brilliant but discontinuous Russian passport broker.
At the top, Yates (comfortable leader of the general) and Sivakov seemed the only ones capable of winning the stage, far from the rest as they were. But the slightly more than seven kilometers that remained to the finish line passed through a dangerous descent, very winding, with very tight curves and a narrow road. Someone, like Dan Martin, had to put his foot down to avoid being thrown onto an embankment. So while Sivakov and Yates appealed to prudence, Bilbao cut ground like a man possessed. Already two weeks ago, in Itzulia, he had once again demonstrated his skills to launch himself down with speed and dexterity.
Bilbao caught up with them and didn't wait for them.
Yates did not lose much rope
and caught him again at the beginning of the final kilometer of plain. It cost much more to Vlasov, who is much better at going up than going down. For both of them it was an important effort to reach the Biscayan cyclist, who took advantage of that extra energy reserved to beat them at the finish line and dedicate the victory to
Michele Scarponi
, a former teammate who died exactly four years ago, run over by a van while training.
"
You can't always do these descents
, you can't take these risks every day, but today was a special day for me, because I wanted to dedicate the victory to 'Scarpa'. I knew it was a perfect ending for me, I love this one. kind of stages in which not everything is legs, in which you can play different cards, "explained Bilbao, now second overall. The 58 seconds of which he has the advantage should be enough for Yates not to fear for his victory in the final stage this Friday. Nothing that disturbs the dream of the Biscayan, with a new victory in the bag and always thinking about the Giro, where he will defend the interests of
Mikel Landa
and also his own if he has the margin to do so, something that he almost always achieves.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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