2023-07-13 21:35:38
No one in the peloton was surprised by the victory of Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) along with the best Beaujolais wine vineyards. He smelled of triumph since he got into the good breakaway, the best by far so far in the Tour de France. Crazy. It was necessary to roll eighty kilometers at more than 46 per hour for the escape to be made and, of course, the runners who got in front after such a mess were all pieces of care. That is the ideal scenario for the smallest of the Izagirres, the limit.
It was the work of a professional. Astute as few in the race, he measured his forces gram by gram, weighing what the stage had demanded (an outrageous), the level of his rivals (stratospheric), the hardness of the route (criminal) and his numerical superiority in the race. group accompanied by Guillaume Martin (a blessing). He measured the attack of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin) fifty kilometers from the finish line and knew that he could win, because in a break like this, there is only one bullet even if one is Poulidor’s grandson. This strategic management is not within everyone’s reach and it was once again the key to his victory, as so many other times.
The Ormaiztegiarra chose his moment 31 kilometers from the finish line, at the last level of the stage. Van der Poel, a true giant, saw the play but at that very moment he captured the dimension of his mistake in the previous port by not taking Izagirre out of the equation. He tried to follow with immeasurable class of his, but his lungs didn’t go with him. He burst and saw the Gipuzkoan walk away. The rest was a triumphant march to Belleville by a cyclist in extraordinary shape on his legs and his intelligence, favored by the teamwork of Guillaume Martin in the chasing group. Cofidis, who had not won in the Tour for fifteen years, adds two stages in this edition, that of Lafay in Donostia and that of Izagirre yesterday. Good champagne at the hotel at night.
Two days after the triumph of Pello Bilbao (Bahrain) in Issoire, Basque cycling did a double. Two wins in three days, after a five-year wait since the victory of Omar Fraile (Ineos) in 2018 in Mende. It is the tenth stage with a Gipuzkoan stamp on the Tour and Ion Izagirre is the second to score two, after those of Miguel Mari Lasa in 1976 and 1978.
the stars aligned
The victory did not surprise either in substance or in form. Before leaving for the Tour, Izagirre explained in an interview in this newspaper that to win in France “the stars have to align.” Seven years ago he beat Vincenzo Nibali to score the Morzine stage, yesterday he beat Van der Poel in the chess game, who for twenty kilometers seemed headed for a memorable victory. The Ormaiztegiarra is always a candidate for victory when the Tour crosses the equator, that is, when the kilometres, speed and hardness already punish the peloton. His cycling is not brilliant like that of Van der Poel, Pogacar (UAE) or Van Aert (Jumbo) -who again yesterday did not find the key to enter the escape-, but it is effective. First level.
Ion Izagirre was able to enjoy the victory. If in 2016 he barely saw himself winning a few meters from the finish line after a chilling descent from the Joux Plane in the rain, he knew yesterday that he would cross the finish line first several kilometers in advance. So many that he had time to get emotional remembering that it was his daughter Iraia’s birthday. The wandering and dangerous life of the professional cyclist is a test of character for those who await him at home.
no signs of wear
At 34 years old, the career of the youngest of the Izagirres – his brother Gorka, 35, disputes the Tour enrolled in Movistar – shows no signs of wear. Since 2019, when he recovered his level after the serious fall in the 2017 Tour, he has won every year, as he did before that accident. And none of those seasons is short of a World Tour win.
Because Izagirre, who has chosen of his own free will a race away from the spotlight, has always sought maximum difficulty. His calendar is made up almost exclusively of World Tour events. The 18 victories on his record might seem few for a rider of his level, but ten of them are from the first division of cycling, including three in his other favorite race, Itzulia, for which he won the overall title in 2019. and two stages, the 2021 one in Arrate, one of the sacred peaks of Basque cycling.
The Ormaiztegiarra arrived at the Tour in excellent shape, with a very measured preparation with concentrations at altitude. He enjoyed the start from Euskadi, but he did not let himself be carried away by the tide. He knew that his time was later, when everyone’s legs hurt but some much more than others. His previous victory in France was on the penultimate day, at the gates of Paris, this time on stage twelve.
Izagirre has become the great bulwark of Cofidis. His signing was a surprise, as it was a French team. He signed for one season, 2022, to check his adaptation to an ecosystem that is not always easy for a foreigner. He was key in the team’s permanence on the World Tour and renewed for two seasons with Cedric Vasseur’s squad. He chooses the calendar and is fixed in the best races. His weight in the group is indisputable. In the team they call him the ‘locomotive’. His rapport yesterday with Guillaume Martin, the team leader for the general classification, was impeccable. They both worked and when Izagirre made his move, the Frenchman did a perfect defensive job of his partner in the group of pursuers, where he soon became fatal. When Ion Izagirre goes out like this, the next time he is seen he is already at the finish line.
#Ion #Izagirre #meets #history