As it happened - Itzulia Basque Country stage 3

Hello and welcome to Cyclingnews' live coverage of stage 3 of Itzulia Basque Country

The rollout for stage 3, Itzulia Basque Country's longest stage, is due at 12.43 local time and riders are heading through the neutralised section now.

Two non-starters reported: David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Ben Tulett (Visma-Lease A Bike). Gaudu is a former stage winner in Itzulia in 2021 on Mount Arrate, the day current leader Primoz Roglic (Bora-Hansgrohe) blew the race apart, and finished fourth last year, so was definitely a GC contender. He's apparently suffered a hand injury when one of the many riders who were affected by crashes on stage 2's chaotic finale.

After a long neutralisation (11 kilometres) on what is already the longest day in the saddle, racing will be getting underway shortly and it will do so with a Cat2 climb in the first 10 kilometres.

On today's menu:

Km 8.5: Climb Otsondo (Cat 2 - 7.8 km at 6%)

Km 59.8: Climb  Usategieta Gaina (Cat 2 - 10.8 km at 3.5%)

Km 70.1: Climb Uitzi (Cat 3  - 4.4 km at 7.3%)

Km 85.8: Climb Zuarrate (Cat 3 - 6.8 km at 3.4%)

Km 123:  Sprint: Altsasu

Km 154.2: Climb Olabarria (Cat 3 - 1.7 km à 7.7%)

Km 172.5: Climb Lizarrusti (Cat 2 - 6.3 km à 5.2%)

Km 181.5: Sprint Etxarri-Aranatz

Km 190: Finish Altsasu

A reminder of the overall standings courtesy of our colleagues in FirstCycling

And we have lift-off. Racing now underway in stage 3 of Itzulia Basque Country

Blink and you missed it: although the stage started in France in Ezpeleta, during the neutralised segment the riders crossed back over the Spanish-French border, and the rest of the stage will take place inside Spain's frontiers.

Some early attacks on that first climb out of the gun, but none of them are sticking for now.

Some reading material while we're waiting for something to happen in Itzulia stage 3 after its depart fictif in southernmost France...

Laporte still a question mark for Paris-Roubaix as Wout van Aert gets back on his feet

180 kilometres to go

6 riders try to make a move on the upper slopes of the Otsondo, but Ineos Grenadiers reel them back in.

As is often the way in Itzulia Basque Country (and as happened on Tuesday's stage 2 to Cambo), the race passes through the finish town once today and then there's a big finishing circuit. On this occasion, riders will go through Altsasu for the first time at km 123, 67 kilometres from the finish in the same town.

Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty) is on the move close to the summit of the Otsondo, but whether he's on the hunt for mountain points or searching for his first win since the Vuelta 2022, only time will tell.

Meintjes claims the maximum points available at the summit of the Otsondo and then is joined by Filippo Conca (Q36.5) and Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck on the drop off the climb.

Not at all clear if this move by Meintjes, Conca and Hermans is going to stick. Euskatel-Euskadi are chasing hard and not letting the break gain more than 20 seconds for now.

Break is caught. We're back to a full peloton again.

155 kms to go

Bunch still all together and we're 35 kilometres into the stage

James Shaw (EF Education-EasyPost) makes a move with around 150 kilometres to go

Next on the day's menu of six classified climbs is the  Usategieta Gaina (Cat 2 - 10.8 km at 3.5%. It's not that tough an ascent, but it's certainly long. After the brisk start has seen the peloton rattle through the first hour at 43.7km despite that first cat 2 climb in the opening kilometres, this second cat 2 could well have some impact.

Shaw has been joined by Felix Engelhardt (Jayco-AIUIa), Rémy Rochas (Groupama-FDJ), Igor Chzhan (Astana Qazaqstan) and a renowned breakaway specialist (already on the move on stage 2), Jetse Bol (Burgos-BH). But the gap's only a small one...

145 kilometres to go

Yet again, the break is caught.

Here's a photo of yet another early-break-that-didn't-work today, featuring a lone move by Markel Beloki (EF Education-EasyPost), son of Basque cycling star Joseba. 

A trio of climbs now in quick succession, and it's a fair bet another breakaway will try to go clear here before a much longer, flatter segment mid-stage.

Km 59.8: Climb  Usategieta Gaina (Cat 2 - 10.8 km at 3.5%)
Km 70.1: Climb Uitzi (Cat 3  - 4.4 km at 7.3%)
Km 85.8: Climb Zuarrate (Cat 3 - 6.8 km at 3.4%

Tom Paquot (Intermarché-Wanty) moves ahead on the climb alongside Frenchman Alan Jousseaume (Total Energies) and Antonio Eric Fagundez (Burgos-BH), gaining a gap of 45 seconds on the bunch.

Close to the summit of the Usategieta Gaina, the three gain a lead of around 1:05

The trio of attackers rattle down the descent of the Usategieta Gaina with an advantage that keeps increasing and now stands at 1:45. Looks like after a long fight that we finally have a break of the day.

A generic shot of the peloton in today's stage. At least the weather's holding up, unlike on Tuesday.

120 kilometres to go

There's a lone pursuer of our trio of breakaways, by the way: New Zealander James Fouché (Euskaltel-Euskadi) is around 1:25 back, while the peloton has definitively sat up and is at 2:30.

As a result of Fourché's lone counter-attack, he's picked up fourth place on the cat2
Usategieta Gaina behind our trio of breakaways. So the order across the summit  and the points collected by each rider was...

1. Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies) 6 pts

2. Antonio Eric Fagundez (Burgos-BH) 4 pts

3. Tom Paquot (Intermarché-Wanty) 2 pts

4. James Fouché (Euskatel-Euskadi) 1 pts

We've still got four climbs to go, mind, so too early to draw conclusions who'll be in the KoM jersey tonight.

The trio of riders ahead are on the third climb of the day, the Uitzi (Cat 3, 4.4 km at 7.3%). It's quite short, but has a few more punishing segments at around 10%. The bunch is now nearly four minutes back.

At the moment Antonio Eric Fagundez (Burgos-BH) is the race leader on the road, with his GC advantage the lowest of the three breakaays, at 2:02.

A shot of last year's winner Jonas Vingegaard (Visma-Lease A Bike) and Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep) in the main pack on stage 3. It all but goes without saying both are major GC contenders, but for now at least it looks as if today's not going to see much of an overall battle.

Jousseaume is first once again ahead of Fagundez and Paquot at the summit of the Uitzi and snatches up three more points.

No sooner has the race come off the Uitzi that we're onto the fourth climb of the day, the Zuarrate (Cat 3 - 6.8 km at 3.4%). Another long, relatively gentle one, then, prior to a fast descent and almost 40 kilometres of near-flat. 

Fouché is doing an impressive lone job of closing the gap on the three breakaways, and his disadvantage has dropped to just over a minute. The bunch, meanwhile, is trundling along at 4:00 down.

The three leaders have reached the summit of the Zuarrate, the fourth climb of the day and are powering down its far side. Bora-Hansgrohe keep an eye on things at the front of the peloton for race leader Primoz Roglič.

Still to come on today's menu:

Km 123:  Sprint: Altsasu 

Km 154.2: Climb Olabarria (Cat 3 - 1.7 km à 7.7%)

Km 172.5: Climb Lizarrusti (Cat 2 - 6.3 km à 5.2%)

Km 181.5: Sprint Etxarri-Aranatz

Km 190: Finish Altsasu

96 kilometres to go

Race situation:

Break:  Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies)
Antonio Eric Fagundez (Burgos-BH)
Tom Paquot (Intermarché-Wanty)

Intermediate rider:  James Fouché (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 20 sec

Peloton: at 4:00

It looks like Fouché's lengthy pursuit of the trio of breakaways is finally going to be rewarded. He's now race leader on the road, being only 1:19 back on race leader Roglic and has cut the gap on the break of the day to just 20 seconds. Odds are the three ahead will soon become four.

Fouché finally bridges across to the three riders ahead, after almost an hour of chasing.

Maybe it's a reaction to the arrival of a reinforcement to the break, but bunch seems to be waking up at last, pushing the gap down from 4:00 to 3:00. A shade under 90 kilometres to go.

Some more stunning countryside on view on Stage 3.

80 kilometres to go

3:20 the gap

Mechanical for former Itzulia winner Ion Izagirre (Cofidis)

Fairly broad, smooth roads at the moment for the four riders ahead as they slowly close in on the first passage through the finish town of Altasu.

Five Bora-Hansgrohe riders on the front of the peloton with a multi-tasking German National Champion, Emanuel Buchmannn, munching on a sandwich as he helps keep up the pace.

Remco Evenepoel is currently slotted in behind Soudal-QuickStep teammate  and local rider Mikel Landa. Landa's knowledge of the Basque roads and the race itself - an event he first took part in back in 2013 and where he has amassed podium finishes in 2018 and 2023 as well as two stage wins to date - is presumably proving invaluable.

Snow-peaked mountains in the distance, but for now it's still staying dry on today's stage. Temperature at the finish reported to be 16º C. 

Movistar are now putting their shoulder to the collective wheel in the bunch as well now, also Ineos Grenadiers with local rider Jonathan Castroviejo.

70 kilometres to go

3:00 the gap for our four breakaways. The pace is high behind but not manic - yet.

The race is now coming in to the finish town of Altsasu for the first time and a first intermediate sprint of two on the stage.

James Fouché (Euskatel-Euskadi) leads the four across the finish line and picks up
the bonus seconds on offer as a result, but with no competition from the other three breakaways.

The riders are on a grinding unclassified climb coming out of Altsasu. Not too steep and very undulating, but the bunch has managed to peg back the gap to 2:35.

60 kilometres to go

And the gap continues to inch downwards for our four leaders, James Fouché (Euskaltel-Euskadi), Alan Jousseaume (TotalEnergies); Antonio Eric Fagundez (Burgos-BH) and Tom Paquot (Intermarché-Wanty)  - 2:20 their latest (shrinking) advantage. 

Still to come today:

Km 154.2: Climb  - Olabarria (Cat 3 - 1.7 km à 7.7%)

Km 172.5: Climb  - Lizarrusti (Cat 2 - 6.3 km à 5.2%)

Km 181.5: Sprint - Etxarri-Aranatz

Km 190: Finish -  Altsasu

The longer this unclassified climb out of Altsasu goes on, the more damage it inflicts on the break, even if it is basically a steady uphill grind. Over a minute has gone up in smoke in a couple of kilometres and it's now down to 1:16.

In the bunch Bora-hansgrohe are still doing the bulk of the work, but on the right hand side of the peloton there's a big delegation of UAE Team Emirates also contributing to the cheerful demolishing of the break's lead.

Basque racer and former multiple National TT champion Jonathan Castroviejo has added his support to the pursuit, with the bunch now only lacking 35 seconds to reach their mobile target ahead.

The four riders crest the unclassified ascent with barely 20 seconds advantage.

47 kilometres to go

The break is about to be swept up but Tom Paquot (Intermarché-Wanty) finds some fresh energy in his legs and presses on alone.

Paquot has a painfully slim 10 second advantage for now as he munches down a gel to try and find some extra, much-needed, fuel on a broad section of downhill road.

42.4 kilometres go

Paquot sits up and waves at the camera in farewell as he's swallowed up by the peloton.

So we're now within shooting distance of the fifth of six climbs today, and the pace in the peloton remains unsurprisingly high as they jostle for forwards positions in the pack prior to the next uphill challenge.

That climb is the Olabarria (Cat 3 - 1.7 km à 7.7%). Short but nasty.

Crash! Roglic is down.

Roglic is standing upright but looking at his leg, holding his head a little. This does not look good.

Roglic is being checked out and has been given another bike

Roglic is pressing on, with two teammates, one of them Emanuel Buchmann escorting their leader. But they're not going at a fast pace.

The bunch is slowing down to give Roglic a chance of getting back through the pack

Unclear how the crash happened, it was on a sweeping curve to the left when the peloton were heading towards that cat 3 climb at speed.

Roglic remains with his two teammates, picking his way gently up the climb. The gap is around two minutes.

34 kilometres to go

The main pack is over the Olabarria (Cat 3 - 1.7 km à 7.7%) and the gap between the peloton and Roglic stands at 2:12.

There's still another ten kilometres of flat and then the grinding ascent of the  Lizarrusti (Cat 2 - 6.3 km à 5.2%) prior to the last 20 kilometres to the finish. Ineos Grenadiers are setting the pace in the bunch, but they aren't hammering it too hard.

Roglic's disadvantage remains at around 2 minutes. There's a nasty major scrape on his right hip beneath his badly ripped shorts.

Roglic now has four teammates with him, and the gap is dropping as he tries to work his way back into contention.

30 kilometres to go

The bunch is still together, the gap now dropping to 1:37. 

Five kilometres to the foot of the last climb of the day, the Lizarristi.

Matteo Sobrero, Emanuel Buchmann and three other teammates continue to power Roglic through the team cars and the gap drops to less than a minute.

Just 20 seconds to go now, as Roglic and the remainder of the chasers catch sight of the back end of the bunch.

Roglic hooks onto the back of the peloton, just as the final climb of the day, the cat 2 Lizarrusti (Cat 2 - 6.3 km à 5.2%) begins. But he's not moving up through the pack yet.

A Twitter image of the crash and its aftermath

Now Roglic is back in the bunch, Ineos Grenadiers are picking up the pace again.

Roglic slowly moving up through the pack, gingerly making his way to the front on the lower slopes of the climb. He's still got three teammates with him.

Five kilometres to the summit of the Lizarrusti and still no major action in the bunch. Roglic now right up to the front.

Road surfaces are dry and no sign of the rain that affected Tuesday's stage so badly, and the descent is none too hard or too long either, so on paper that reduces the chances of more late crashes.

Still an almost complete peloton at the moment as they wend their way up through the climb running through dense woodland.

Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty) already on the attack early on, re-opens up hostilities some 2 kilometres from the summit. Nobody's following him for now.

Meintjes forges on towards the summit of the Lizarrusti. For now the bunch remains relatively calm and Roglic seems to be handling the pace for now.

Meintjes crowns the Lizarrusti with a 15 second advantage and tackles the smooth descent alone.

17 kilometres to go

Meintjes is sitting back again, and after scooping up maximum mountains ranking points, is seemingly allowing the peloton to bear down on him on the descent.

We've now got an intermediate sprint at Etxarri-Aranatz, 8.5 kilometres to the finish at Altsasu.

Meintjes is now the new leader of the mountains ranking having taken maximum points on the first and the last climbs of the stage.

Roglic is sitting in the fourth row of riders in the tightly packed peloton as they slowly pick up the pace thanks to Lidl-Trek, Soudal-QuickStep and Visma-Lease A Bike.

12 kilometres to go

Bunch still together with Visma-Lease A Bike and Soudal-QuickStep massing near the front as the intermediate sprint approaches

Trek, Soudal, UAE and Visma looking most interested in the intermediate sprint. Unsurprisingly, no sign of Roglic getting involved.

Soudal Quick Step lead into the sprint, then Lidl-Trek take over on a draggy uphill dash for the line. Evenepoel gets the points.

The intermediate sprint has allowed the late attacks to begin, with three riders going clear: Nelson Oliveira (Movistar), Marc Soler (UAE Team Emirates) and Gorka Izagirre (Cofidis).

7 kilometres to go

The three have an advantage of some 300 metres.

Bora-hansgrohe are chasing but not excessively hard as the peloton powers thorugh another small village on constantly undulating slopes.

5 kilometres to go

Bora have swung over and the trio are looking committed to the move, while Soudal pick up the pace behind.

The gap is shrinking fast and it's looking like touch and go for the late breakaway trio.

3.4 kilometres to go

Late three-rider break over. Time for more late attacks now?

Still a very large peloton to fight for the finish after that virtual neutralisation following Roglic's crash.

Lidl-Trek and Alpecin-Deceuninck all massing on the left hand side of the road as we come into the last two kilometres

A short tunnel and then a gradual rise towards Altsasu. Speeds touching around 50kmh. No clear control.

Decathlon-AG2R are leading at the front, and another big crash in the middle of the bunch. Ayuso is down.

Into the last kilomtre for the remnants of the peloton.

Around 60 riders left, swinging into a right hand turn and a little uphill.

A stiff uphill climb to the finish, Aranburu leads on the left.

But in another chaotic runin, Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck)  comes through for the win.

Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) wins stage 3 of Itzulia Basque Country

Basque fastman Alex Aranburu (Movistar) looked to be wellpositioned, but Hermans was perfectly positioned to swing past on his right and take the stage.

Carlos Rodriguez (Ineos Grenadiers) and BYR leader Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates), two of Spain's most promising young riders, both reportedly down in the second big crash of the day. They won't lose time as it was inside the last three kilometres, but as yet no indication of what their and other riders' injuries could have been.

Behind Hermans, Edoardo Zambanini (Bahrain Victorious) and Aranburu (Movistar) finished in second and third on the stage.

Second in Liège-Bastogne-Liège back in 2022, this is Hermans first ever WorldTour stage win aged 28.

And here's the top ten ranking for the stage, courtesy of FirstCycling

A first shot of the stage winner

Hermans also moves into the overall lead of the points ranking

Some first words from the winner: "It was unreal going to the finish line, the team did such an amazing job. They really believed in me that I could do it today and I want to thank them because I did the sprint but they put me in the perfect position."
"It was quite hectic going from the big road to the right-hand corner in the final sprint, but it was perfect for me because it was uphill so I could give it my best push."
"I was in the perfect position, Stan [Van Tricht, teammate] did the perfect job bringing me to 600 metres and then I was on the wheel of Aranburu. Then if you have the right wheel and the strongest legs you know you can win - but it's amazing."

Ayuso could complete the stage, reportedly without too many visible serious injuries.  

So Roglic continues in yellow for now, but the big question is how such a bad, high-speed fall will affect his performance in the coming days.

A photo of Hermans celebrating his new lead in the points jersey. He's got a nine point advantage on Remco Evenepoel (Soudal-QuickStep), who also snatched back a few seconds on GC as well as points thanks to going for (and winning) the second intermediate spirnt.

Juan Ayuso (UAE Team Emirates) continues in the BYR lead and Louis Meintjes (Intermarché-Wanty) moves into the top spot of the mountains ranking.

So what's on for tomorrow?  Stage 4 of Itzulia Basque Country on Thursday is 157 kilometres from Etxarri Aranatz to Legutio. Fairly flat, a series of short but steep-ish cat 3 climbs in the last 40 kilometres could yet see some GC sparks fly.

Ayuso finally appears on the winner's podium to don his latest BYR jersey, an encouraging sign that even if he did get caught up in that crash.

And here is race leader Primoz Roglič (Bora-hansgrohe) on the podium, still able to smile at the end of a very tough day.

That wraps it up for Cyclingnews live coverage of Itzulia Basque Country today. Check back to the site for for further updates and analysis throughout the evening and we'll be back on Thursday for stage 4 and more live coverage of the race.