Buchmann wins in Arrate and is the new leader of the Tour of the Basque Country
It's not Schachmann, it's Buchmann, but it hardly changes anything in the Tour of the Basque Country. After three victories in four stages for the Bora, one more came, although this time changed the name of the winner. Schachmann found it hard to keep up with the favorites during much of the stage, but his team, the Bora, had more weapons. And Buchmann was one of them. The one designated as team leader before the start of the race was only intended to protect the leadership of his teammate. His team had three runners in the top five and could afford to play with it. He was in charge of holding Luis León Sánchez. "Our plan was to defend the MAx jersey [Schachmann]. We had a good situation but when he left Sanchez we knew we could not leave him, "he explained later The Murcian rider received the encouragement of his brother, Pedro León, who took advantage of the race to Arrate to push Luisle, but it was not enough. Buchmann was stronger and soon he was alone in the lead, the difference was increasing without Astana doing anything to prevent it.
The Bora and Buchmann demonstrated their strength in the queen stage of the Tour of the Basque Country and the six ports that had had to pass before, five of third and one of first, did not remove air to his legs. He entered more than a minute ahead of Jon Izagirre, who is now second to 54 seconds. Hardly changes anything for the small of the Izagirre in the general, but the Bora shows that it has relief. "I can stand," says the leader, who enjoys his first victory in the World Tour. So far, his greatest triumphs were a stage of the Challenge de Mallorca and the German championship. "We could say it's the best victory of my career, it's the first in the World Tour on the sidelines of the German championship, winning the queen stage in a race like this is important," he admits.
Buchmann looks with options to maintain the general. For Mikel Landa, one of the favorites at the start of the race, the objective is only to win the last stage. "My teammates have been out of ten, in the courts, but it does not matter if they were more with me because I was not the best up, the general is impossible, so we will have to fight for a stage," he admits.
