Eddie Dunbar and his Ineos Grenadiers team were left empty handed on the final stage of Itzulia Basque Country today when Primoz Roglic (Jumbo Visma) powered clear to win the race overall.
Roglic was in 2nd place overall this morning setting out on the 112km final stage from Ondarroa to Arrate. Brandon McNulty was in the race lead, with 23 seconds in hand over Roglic, and his UAE Emirates team mate Tadej Pogačar was 5th overall at 43 seconds.
By the Elosua-Gorla climb after 35km today a breakaway had gone clear and when Astana pushed the pace in what remained of the peloton over the top of the climb and down the other side, Roglic managed to shake off Pogacar and McNulty, both of whom were too far back in the group to respond quickly.
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From that point, Roglic and the others got across to the early breakaway, which had a minute in hand. As the stage end neared, only Hugh Carthy (EF Nippo) and David Gaudu (Groupama FDJ) were able to hold Roglic on the climbs.
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Behind them, and never more than a minute down, was a desperate Pogacar trying to chase down the leaders after initially trying to help McNulty in yellow, only for the American to be dropped when the climbs proved too much.
At the finish it was down to just Roglic and Gaudu out front as Carthy was dropped on the final climb and caught by the elite chasing group. In the end Roglic did not challenge Gaudu for the stage win, with the French rider a delighted winner followed by Roglic.
Some 35 seconds after the two leaders crossed the line came Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) in 3rd place from Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers), Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma).
The result was enough for Roglic to win outright by 52 seconds from his team mate Vingegaard, with Pogacar in 3rd overall at 1:07 and Yates 4th at 1:26. McNulty finished today's stage in 23rd almost eight minutes down, meaning he slipped from the yellow jersey down to 17th overall.
Ireland's Eddie Dunbar, who was working for team leader Yates, finished the stage in 82nd place some 18:18 down and was 42nd overall at the end of an underwhelming week for his team.
Jumbo Visma took 1st and 2nd overall, two stage wins and the points and climbers' classifications via Roglic, while Vingegaard won the youth classification and Jumbo Visma was top team.
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