Estella (Navarra) (EFE).- Ion Izagirre from Gipuzkoa won the XXIV Miguel Induráin Grand Prix held today in Estella. The Colombian Sergio Higuita has prevailed, who has not been able to withstand the pedaling of the Cofidís member in the last meters of the Alto de Ibarra.
Izagirre was the first to complete the 203-kilometre route of this grand prix marked by cool temperatures and intermittent water, especially in the first half.
Better weather than in the previous edition
However, the experience has not been a reflection of what was experienced last year. So the cyclists had to deal with the snow, even changing their route due to inclement weather.
Third place went to the Danish Mattias Skjelmose Jensenque. He managed to get off the hook but too late to have a chance of making the top on the Estella podium. He was followed by his compatriot Andreas Kron and the Catalan Roger Adrià.
The early stages of the race were marked by an early break from Biscayne Mikel Bizkarra, Mallorcan Xavi Canellas, Italian Alessandro Fancellu and Belgian Matyás Kopecký. This last member of Team Novo Nordisk characterized for being the only professional team in the world formed only by cyclists with diabetes.
The escape managed to maintain a distance of about 4 minutes from the peloton over a considerable stretch. But already at the beginning of the Guirguillano stop, the second scoring climb, they started at 2 minutes, gradually reducing the difference until the break was canceled with 60 km to go to the finish line with a pull from the peloton led by Kern Pharma.
The height of Lezaun, for the leader of the mountain
Despite already arriving in the peloton, Bizkarra was able to take the lead at the key moment and score points at the Lezaun climb. Thus he has endorsed the leadership of the mountain by adding 6 points after having also led in the top of Guirguillano, in the 1st category and which gave him 10 points.
The dynamic was broken by Javier Romo from Toledo in the surroundings of Abárzuza but his momentum did not last long until the ascent in the penultimate pass through the Alto de Ibarra. There he was unable to keep up with a squad that crossed the flying finish line with 28 km to go in the city of Ega, breaking due to the pace led by the duo between Nelson Oliveira and Álex Aranburu, from Movistar.
Oliveira didn’t take long to attack alone but Luis León Sánchez, from Astana from Murcia, got hooked and accompanied him taking the lead. They were overtaken with 12 kilometers to go, beginning a dance of jerks uphill that reached the top of Eraul with Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) and Sergio Higuita (Bora) slightly ahead.
Although they have not managed to mark a great distance, both in a frantic descent with their sights set on Estella-Lizarra have managed to reach Alto de Ibarra alone. There they have starred in some spectacular meters of suffering driven by the atmosphere of a public delivered in the last meters of a climb that has resisted Higuita.
Thus, Izagirre has managed to scratch a few seconds that have earned him to safely line up the final stretch of the Paseo de la Inmaculada de Estella. He has raised his fists across the finish line two seconds behind his fellow rider in the last few kilometres.