Itzulia Basque Country: Tadej Pogacar climbs to stage 3 win

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Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) took the victory on the tough hilltop finish of Ermualde on stage 3 of Itzulia Basque Country, striking back at his countryman and rival Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) as the general classification contenders came to the fore on the double-digit gradients above Laudio.

The final 500 metres of a climb dominated by the duo saw Roglič make the decisive move from a group of six, bringing Pogačar with him before the Tour de France champion moved to the front of the dash to the line to claim his fifth win of 2021.

Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) won the sprint for third place, five seconds further back, with Adam Yates (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) completing the top five at the same time deficit.

The Slovenian duo were expected to be the headline act on the 20 per cent slopes and didn't disappoint as they swept past a late attack group a kilometre into the climb. Nobody behind was able to match them, though a slackening of pace saw them reabsorbed 500 metres later.

Pogačar repeated the move soon after, bringing only Roglič with him before the pair were once again brought back by a four-man chase group a kilometre out. In the end, it was Roglič's acceleration that settled the day, though he just missed out on taking a second stage win at the race in three days.

"This success makes me very happy because, after racing here in the Basque Country two years ago, I have always had the ambition to come back and do well : it is a very beautiful race and the enthusiasm of the fans is really amazing," said Pogačar after the finish.

"There are still three days of racing, all quite hard. I’m pretty optimistic because the condition is good and the team is racing very well together."

The result sees Roglič continue to hold the race lead heading into the fourth stage of six on Thursday, though Pogačar has now chipped another four seconds off the gap, moving to second place overall at 20 seconds. Yates now lies third, 39 seconds back.

How it unfolded

The third stage of the 2021 Itzulia Basque Country would see the peloton take on a 167.7-kilometre stage from Amurrio north to a hilltop finish at Ermaulde in Laudio. Two third-category climbs and an intermediate sprint lay across the initial two-thirds of the day, before an action-packed finale.

From the intermediate sprint at Laudio, 23 kilometres out, there would follow an unclassified hill, the short and sharp second-category Malkuartu and then the three-kilometre climb to the finish at Ermaulde, which averages a 10 per cent and features stretches of brutal 20 per cent gradients.

Despite riders attacking from the off, it took some time for the break of the day to form. The riders were over the first climb of the day and almost 20 kilometres into the stage before seven men made it away from the peloton.

Mikkel Honoré (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Theo Delacroix (Interlarché-Wanty Gobert), Larry Warbasse (AG2R Citroën), Oier Lazkano (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Daniel Navarro (Burgos-BH), Gotzon Martin (Euskaltel-Euskadi), and Felix Gall (Team DSM) were the men in question, quickly moving away and building up their lead. By the 130-kilometre to go mark, as the riders rode along the Gorbeia plateau, their advantage had grown to over three minutes.

Back in the peloton, Jumbo-Visma were making the pace on behalf of race leader Roglič, with the Dutch team controlling the gap ahead of the finale and a chance for the Slovenian to extend his lead. The break managed to extend their advantage to six minutes at the 100-kilometres to go mark, but with the GC men ready to battle later on, their chances of staying out to the end were slim.

EF Education-Nippo (for Sergio Higuita), Team BikeExchange (Esteban Chaves), and Israel Start-Up Nation (for Michael Woods) joined Jumbo-Visma up front inside the final 80 kilometres, the squads working to chip away at the gap to the seven leaders.

With 50 kilometres to go, it was back down to four minutes, with Movistar (for Valverde) and Bahrain Victorious (for Landa) also putting in work. The pace in the peloton only went up as the riders neared the final section of the stage, though there was little incident until Lazkano made a bid for glory at the 26-kilometre mark.

The 21-year-old, who hails from Gasteiz – the host city of Thursday's stage 4 – pushed on alone to take the intermediate sprint at 22-kilometres to go, quickly making half a minute on his break-mates as the peloton lay a minute further behind.

Back in the peloton, Ineos Grenadiers moved to the front for their leader Yates, with Groupama-FDJ (for David Gaudu) and AG2R Citroën (for Ben O'Connor) also put in an appearance. The remains of the break were duly caught at 15 kilometres to go, though Honoré pushed on in pursuit of Lazkano.

The Caja Rural man hit the Malkuartu just 15 seconds up on the Groupama-FDJ led peloton, with Honoré's day out front ending at the bottom of the climb. Lazkano's battle ended on the steepest slopes of the 2.5-kilometre climb, with Israel Start-Up Nation taking over leadership at the front of the race in his stead.

No attacks came on the penultimate climb, however, with the Israel-based squad controlling the pace over the top ahead of a series of other GC-focussed teams. At the rear of the peloton, Trek-Segafredo's Bauke Mollema was a major casualty as he dropped 10 kilometres out.

Astana-Premier Tech moved to the front on the descent through the forest, lining out the reduced peloton as they sped towards the climb to the finish. The bottom of the descent saw a strong group of four clip off the front in Amurrio, with EF-Nippo men Magnus Cort and Sergio Higuita making the move along with Aurelien Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroën) and Richard Carapaz (Ineos Grenadiers)

Woods and Wilco Kelderman (Bora-Hansgrohe) both went down on a corner in the town, both out of contention for the finish with the Dutchman coming off worse as the Canadian managed to get back up and continue. Up front, the four leaders led the way onto the climb, with Team BikeExchange chasing just behind as Mauri Vansevenant (Deceuninck-QuickStep) jumped across.

The lead quartet were brought back as Pogačar and Roglič moved to the front of the rapidly thinning 2.7 kilometres from the line. Carapaz continued to push on, though, winching his way up the 20 per cent slopes as the two Slovenians led the chase in what was already an elite group of climbers.

Pogačar and Roglič made their move at the 2.1-kilometre mark, sweeping past Carapaz in slow motion with little response from their competitor on the leg-burning gradients. The race leader sat on his rival's wheel as, metres back, the chasing group battled their way across with Yates, Landa and Vansevenant bringing the duo back.

At 1.5 kilometres to go, Pogačar struck out once more, once again bringing Roglič with his as the gradient eased. 500 metres later, Gaudu came across the gap with Yates, Landa and Valverde making it six up front.

Roglič launched another move at 500 metres to go, powering away from the rest on an uphill rise with only Pogačar able to follow. The pair were away for good this time, though it was Pogačar who came out on top, moving to the front in the closing 200 metres to claim the stage.