Tour of the Basque Country 2019: Stage 3

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January 1 - April 13, Sarriguren, Basque Country, Road - WorldTour

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

 

Hello and welcome to the action from the Basque Country. Today the riders face a hilly 191km of racing.  

As the CN blimp takes flight, with around half way to go, there is a break of eight riders away, with the peloton 3:20 back.  

The riders in the break are Ben King (Dimension Data), Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), Julien Bernard, Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo), Garikoitz Bravo (Euskadi-Murias), Nicolas Sessler, José Fernandes (Burgos-BH), José Joaquin Rojas (Movistar).

87km remaining from 191km

85km remaining from 191km

The skies is grey and heavy with rain but the road are dry so far.

Crash!

Several riders touched and went down. 

Markel Irizar (Trek-Segafredo) was brought down by another rider touching wheels.

80km remaining from 191km

It is followed by a steep descent an fast ride to the uphill finish. 

This is the break of the day. 

The USA's Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) was also caught up in the crash. 

Bravo is in the break to defend the polka-dot mountains jersey. 

Team Sky, Astana and Groupama-FDJ are leading the peloton in chase of the break. 

72km remaining from 191km

Kenny Elissonde is on the front for Team Sky.

68km remaining from 191km

Another touch of wheels and another crash!

This time it's Steff Crass of Katusha to go down after a touch of wheels. 

Crass is still lying in the field but is getting medical assistance. 

62km remaining from 191km

There is a stiff headwind slowing the riders at the moment. 

This is the profile of the Opakua climb. It actually cuts into the side of the mountain.

José Fernandes (Burgos-Bh) drops out of the break and is swept up by the bunch.  

The peloton is packed across the road and so he almost caused a crash.

58km remaining from 191km

Bernhard kicks first and distances Bravo. 

The peloton passes the mountain summit some 1:30 down on the break. 

51km remaining from 191km

The peloton has split slightly on the descent, there's a side wind and so the peloton is in four different groups.

47km remaining from 191km

42km remaining from 191km

40km remaining from 191km

The roads are wet again. The weather is changing by the minute, adding an extra factor to the race.

The gap to the break is down to 1:10 now.

32km remaining from 191km

26km remaining from 191km

24km remaining from 191km

Top ten:

Michael Storer is loading bidons for Team Sunweb. Hugh Carthy did the same for EF. 

20km remaining from 191km

They sweep up the time bonuses at the intermediate sprint.  

18km remaining from 191km

16km remaining from 191km

Deceuninck-QuickStep, Lotto Soudal are now leading the peloton.

Today's finish kicks up for the final 2km, at an average of 4%. 

13km remaining from 191km

11km remaining from 191km

Position will be important going into the uphill finish.

10km remaining from 191km

Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Movistar Team), Benjamin King (Dimension Data), Bruno Armirail (Groupama-FDJ), Julien Bernard (Trek-Segafredo) and Toms Skujins (Trek-Segafredo) are still working hard together but their lead is down to 20 seconds.

7km remaining from 191km

He's dragging them along at 54km/h! 

6km remaining from 191km

A numbers of riders have gone down at speed.

Adam Hansen also went down hard but seems okay.

The crash happened with 5km to go and so the riders will lose time in the GC.

A Team Sky riders also crashed. He is being treated by the medics. 

It seems Castroviejo is the Team Sky rider. He is getting up but has cut his face.

2km remaining from 191km

2km remaining from 191km

Enric Mas also crashed and has lost time.

Deceuninck is trying to limit Mas' time loss but its going to be significant.

1km remaining from 191km

Schachmann is there. 

Here we go! 

Lutsenko and Ulissi lead it out but Schachmanm was on their wheel and far stronger.  

He came past them as the road curved and won by a few bike lengths. 

It was his fourth win of the season, he also won the stage 1 TT. 

Schachmann had time to look behind and check on his rivals before celebrate his win. 

Italy's Enrico Battaglin finished third, with Marc Hirschi of Sunweb  was fourth. 

This is the top 10 for the stage: 

We are still awaiting info on if Julian Alaphilippe got up and finished the stage.

Thanks to a ten-second time bonus and Alaphilippe losing time, Schachmann extended his overall lead to 33 seconds on Ion Izagirre (Astana) and teammate Patrick Konrad. 

Alaphillippe rides to the finish. He has road rash and is not happy but does not seem injured. He finished 12 minutes down after his crash with 5km to go.  

With Alaphilippe losingb time, this is the new GC: 

Schachmann collects the flowers and applause for winning the stage and also returns to the podium to pull on the leader's yellow jersey yet again. 

Max Schachmann seemed genuinely surprised to win again.

Asked if he can win, the German rider said:

It's been a busy day in the pro bike world. 

It is also a big day in the bike tech world, with Specialized unveiling their new Roubaix bike. 

This is one of the first images of Schachmann winning stage 4 in the Basque Country.

Max Schachmann was clearly happy to win again.  

Team Sky confirmed that both Michal Kwiatkowski and Geraint Thomas crashed in the final kilometres. 

Jonathan Castroviejo also crashed, landing on his face, and has been taken to hospital for treatment. 

We'll have further information on the riders involved in the crash. 

Thanks for joining us for our live coverage, we'll be back tomorrow for more action from stage 4. 

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