Pello Bilbao (Caja Rural) took his first professional victory on home soil when he won today's exciting Basque duel against his former teammate Gorka Izagirre (Movistar) at the Klasika Primavera. The former Euskaltel rider proved to be the fastest when the duo arrived at the finish to decide the race in a sprint battle.

In the off-season, Pello Bilbao faced a possible premature end to his professional career when his Euskaltel team folded. The young Basque was one of several talented riders who found themselves without a team on a market that was loaded with unemployed riders searching for teams.

Caja Rural threw him a lifeline and today he paid them back in the most beautiful way. The young Basque took his first professional win in the Klasika Primavera, the one-day race that traditionally ends the Basque cycling week that is dominated by the WorldTour race the Vuelta al Pais Vasco.

Bilbao had agreed with his team to skip that race after he had been plagued by health issues but he has certainly not skipped his training sessions. Today's race marked his return to form as he emerged as the strongest in a duel against his former Euskaltel teammate Gorka Izagirre.

The duo escaped with David Belda (Burgos) after the passage of the second of the three climbs that were located in the final third of the race. As Caja Rural and Movistar were the only teams above the continental level, none of their rival teams were strong enough to bring it back and so it soon became apparent that the race would be decided by the front trio.

Belda missed a big opportunity as he got dropped but he refused to give up. For a long time, he stayed just 10-15 seconds behind the leaders but he never made the junction.

When it was clear that the duo would decide the race, Izagirre tried his attack just 1.5km from the finish but Bilbao quickly shut it down. Hence, it all came down to a final sprint where Bilbao emerged as the strongest to take his first pro win.

With the Klasika Primavera over, racing in Spain will be put on hold as the focus turns to the Ardennes classics in the Benelux countries. The next major race on the Iberian peninsula is the Vuelta a Asturias in early May.

End to Basque cycling week

As usual, the biggest week of cycling in the Basque Country came to an end with the Klasika Primavera one day after the conclusion of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco. The race brought the riders over 171.5km starting and finishing in Amorebieta. Due to road construction, the race's key climb had been taken out and instead the Montecalvo ascent was set to be decisive. The first part of the race was flat but in the final third of the race, the riders went up that climb three times, the final time just 14.2km from the finish.

As it is often the case in these Spanish one-day races that are dominated by smaller continental teams facing the impressive might of Movistar, the start was very fast as almost all teams wanted to have a rider in the early break. The pace was fierce as several riders tried to take off but after 10km of racing, things were still together.

A big group gets clear

A dangerous situation was created at the 14km mark when a big 19-rider group went up the road. Two more riders bridged across to make it 21 riders in the move.

The group consisted of Javier Moreno, Enrique Sanz (Movistar), Benat Txoperena, Illart Zuazubiskar, Jon Larrinaga, Victor Etxebarria (Euskadi), Javier Aramendia, Antonio Piedra (Caja Rural), Dmitry Sokolov (Lokosphinkx), Rustom Lim (MVP), Jose Ragonessi (Ecuador), Ricardo Ferreira (Radio Popular), Rui Vinhas, Francisco Moreno (Louletano), Filipe Cardoso, Diego Rubio, Carlos Oyarzun (Efapel), Ibai Salas, David Belda, Pablo Torres (Burgos), Mario Costa (OFM), Marcos Jurado and Manuel Sola (Keith Mobel) and they gradually managed to build up a gap that reached 1.15 after 28km of racing. Despite having Aramendia and Piedra in the move, however, it was too dangerous for Caja Rural that started to chase in the peloton.

The group splits

The gap stayed at around 1.10 for a little while but despite good cooperation, the front group started to lose time. With the peloton breathing down their neck, the group split in two as 10 riders took off.

Sanz, Zuazubiskar, Larrinaga, Aramendia, Sokolov, Ragonessi. Cardoso, Oyarzun, Salas and Torres made the selection while their former companions were all swallowed up. However, the peloton was still in no mood to let them go and for quite a while, the gap stayed at around 35 seconds.

The gap comes down

Zuazubiskar was unable to keep up the pace and fell back to the peloton that finally decided to allow the group a bit more leeway. The gap reached 2.05 at the 76km mark but then the peloton again set into motion.

Movistar, Caja Rural, and Euskadi combined forces to gradually bring down the gap and it was down to 55 seconds at the 113km mark. The riders were now just 9km from the start of the first climb, meaning that the peloton significantly upped its speed.

Torres off on his own

The escapees started to attack each other, with Aramendia launching the first move, but it was Cardoso who managed to get clear. The Portuguese stayed away for a little while but by the time they reached the bottom of the climb, the 9 escapees were back together, with the peloton hot on their heels.

On the climb, the group split up when Torres and Sanz took off and the latter quickly fell off the pace. Torres crested the summit as the lone leader, 25 seconds ahead of the peloton that was led across the line by Garikoitz Bravo (Efapel) and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar).

Izagirre makes his first move

Torres manage to reopen his gap to 35 seconds but after 139km of racing he was brought back. On the second ascent of the climb, Izagirre, Omar Fraile (Caja Rural) and Daniel Silva (Radio Popular) took off and they quickly got a small gap.

Silva fell off the pace while IZagirre led the front duo over the op, followed by Victor de la Parte (Efapel). At that point the gap was only a few seconds though and a few moments later, a 40-rider peloton emerged at the front.

The decisive attack

26km from the finish, Izagirre, Belda and Bilbao took off and they quickly got a solid gap. 4km further up the road, they were already 30 seconds ahead and they started the final climb with a 47-second hap.

They started to lose a bit of ground and when it was down to 25 seconds, Valverde took off in pursuit. Izagirre led Belda and Bilbao over the top while Valverde was still in hot pursuit a few seconds behind.

Valverde gives up

Belda fell off the pace on the descent while Valverde was joined by Amets Txurruka (Caja Rural). 7km from the finish, that duo was 42 seconds behind though and so they gave up.

Belda constantly dangled 5 seconds behind the leaders while the peloton was 50 seconds behind as they passed the 4km to go banner. One kilometre further up the road, it was up to 1.15 and as Belda was at 10 seconds it seemed that the winner would be one of the former Euskaltel riders.

1.5km from the finish, Izagirre made an attack but Bilbao was quick to shut it down. Hence, it all came down to a sprint finish and here Bilbao emerged as the fastest while Belda held on to take third. Eduard Prades (OFM) beat Miguel Minguez (Euskadi) in the sprint for fourth.