One-Two Deceuninck-QuickStep on Stage 5 of the Itzulia Basque Country

Mikkel Honore  won stage five of the Tour of the Basque Country ahead of his teammate Josef Cerny as contenders finished together. The Deceuninck-QuickSteppair fist-bumped as they cruised to the line after a long breakaway off the Basque coastline

One-Two Deceuninck-QuickStep on Stage 5 of the Itzulia Basque Country

“I wish Cerny could be with me here on the podium,” Denmark’s Honore said.

“We treated it like a one-day race and the tactic paid off when we got away on the final climb,” he said, after he and his teammate beat the main pack by 28 seconds.

While there were no spectators at either the start or finish lines, there were clusters of passionate fans encouraging the riders on the regular inclines.

A post-lunch start for a relatively flat 160km run from the beachfront in Hondarribia provided the calm before the storm expected on Saturday’s big-gun, mountain-laden final day showdown.

The young American Brandon McNulty of UAE Team Emirates retains the overall leader’s yellow jersey, 23 seconds ahead of Jumbo’s Primoz Roglic. But the steep inclines, including a summit finish Saturday, will see McNulty tested to the limit, with an elbow-to-elbow contest between Roglic and his 2020 Tour de France nemesis Tadej Pogacar expected.

VIDEO: 2021 Itzulia Basque Country Stage 5 Highlights

2021 Itzulia Basque Country Stage 5 Top 10

1 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 3:39:54
2 Josef Cerny (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep
3 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:17
4 Daryl Impey (RSA) Israel Start-up Nation 0:00:28
5 Simon Clarke (Aus) Team Qhubeka Assos
6 Stefano Oldani (Ita) Lotto Soudal
7 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma
8 Julien Simon (Fra) Total Direct Energie
9 Magnus Cort (Den) EF Education-Nippo
10 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates

2021 Itzulia Basque Country GC after Stage 5

1 Brandon McNulty (USA) UAE Team Emirates 16:05:43
2 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:23
3 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma 0:00:28
4 Pello Bilbao Lopez De Armentia (Spa) Bahrain Victorious 0:00:36
5 Tadej Pogacar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:43
6 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:01:07
7 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:13
8 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana-Premier Tech 0:01:15
9 Mikel Landa Meana (Spa) Bahrain Victorious 0:01:23
10 Mauri Vansevenant (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:01:32