Itzulia Basque Country stage 3 - live coverage

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the third stage here at Itzulia Basque Country!

110km to go

The stage today is well underway with a three-man break of Jan Polanc, Hugo Houle, and Cristián Rodríguez out front after 70km of racing.

There were some hills earlier on, including an uphill start. The majority of the obstacles lie up ahead, though.

3:40 between the breakaway and the peloton at the moment.

The Scheldeprijs Women is about to finish, too. We'll have a report from that race up very shortly.

Meanwhile, we're also running live coverage of the men's race

Check out who won Scheldeprijs Women here

90km to go

Jan Poland led the break over the intermediate sprint at Laudio just now. 

The trio remain 3:50 clear of the peloton as the hills near.

The riders are taking on an unclassified climb following the intermediate sprint now. They're around 20km from the first classified climb of the day at Opellora, which measures in at 1.1km long with an average of 13.1 per cent!

A look back at yesterday's stage, won by world champion Julian Alaphilippe.

Julian Alaphilippe sprints to stage 2 win at Itzulia Basque Country

Jumbo-Visma among the teams controlling at the moment, working for race leader Primož Roglič.

73km to go

The time gap has fallen a little as the breakaway edges towards the climb of Opellora. It's down to three minutes now.

A look at the two classified climbs coming up shortly.

A look at the jersey holders at the start today. Roglič, Ruiz, Adam Yates, Evenepoel with stage 3 winner Alaphilippe.

2:30 for the breakaway now as Ineos Grenadiers work on the front with Geraint Thomas.

69km to go

Polanc, Houle and Rodríguez start the brutal Opellora climb as news filters through of Mark Padun's abandon.

This climb is only 1km long but it's very tough with these gradients.

Houle is distanced at the front. Ineos lead the peloton into the climb 2:10 down.

Ineos continue the push on the steep slopes.

Houle still has his breakmates in his sights as he races on a few seconds behind.

Sergio Higuita not doing well in the peloton. He's not near the front.

Thomas leads the peloton over the top at 1:55 behind the break.

65km to go

Houle is chasing the two leaders on the way down.

A look at the fight for position heading into that last climb.

Polanc and Rodríguez hit the climb of Ozeka now. It's 3.6km long at an average of 7.4 per cent.

A large group off the rear of the peloton is not far away from getting back on.

The Ineos men at the head of the peloton grab gels and bottles from two soigneurs positioned at the start of Ozeka.

Rodríguez attacks up the climb, leaving Polanc behind. 1:35 back to the peloton.

62km to go

Ineos continue their work at the head of the peloton.

Rodríguez solo at the top. Polanc still chases with Ineos still leading the peloton over these rolling roads.

57km to go

Houle is back in the peloton after being dropped from the break.

Almost 20km without any classified climbs now. The terrain is still lumpy and hilly, though.

Polanc chases at around 15-20 seconds down.

50km to go

More riders come back to the peloton as the pace dies down after those two climbs. 2:40 up to the breakaway now.

The gap goes up to three minutes in the valley.

44km to go

Cofidis, UAE, Bahrain lead the way now.

The riders are basically taking the long way around back towards the Opellora and Ozeka climbs.

Rodríguez has 3:50 currently.

40km to go

Four minutes for Rodríguez as the peloton rides spread across the road. A large number of teams represented across the front.

50 seconds between Polanc and the peloton.

Ineos back on the front with Thomas as they speed towards the tough Opellora climb again.

 A reminder of the two climbs to come – the same as the two we saw earlier.

It's almost the exact same situation, too, with Thomas leading at three minutes down on the break, though the break is now down to just one man.

The top of Opellora is 30km from the line. Too far to do anything big? Ozeka follows soon after before a hilly run to the line.

Rodríguez starts the steep slopes of Opellora for the second time.

2:40 behind, Thomas leads the peloton onto the climb.

Alaphilippe, Roglič, Vlasov all up front among the Ineos riders.

Thomas, Geoghegan Hart, Yates, Martínez at the head of the peloton.

Enric Mas, Ion Izagirre, and Pello Bilbao are up there among the front riders, too. Remco Evenepoel a touch further back.

30km to go

Rodríguez leads over the top, two minutes up. He's now a point away from holding the KOM lead.

And now the peloton head over the top. No attacks, no change in situation. The group is much smaller though, of course.

27km to go

1:30 between Rodríguez and the peloton now as he starts Ozeka.

This climb is 3.7km at 7.1 per cent.

Thomas continues to lead the peloton, which consists of around 30-40 riders now.

The Welshman has now pulled off to end his long stint of work, leaving Tao Geoghegan Hart in charge.

Will we see any major attacks up here?

Rodríguez is 1.8km from the top and needs two points there to clinch the KOM lead. 1:10 back to the peloton.

Geoghegan Hart pulls off and Yates gives it a go.

Yates has Soler on his wheel. jumbo-Visma right behind.

50 seconds to Rodríguez.

Vingegaard, Izagirre, Alaphilippe leading behind Yates and Soler.

Roglič, Mas, Vlasov, Evenepoel up there, too.

Around 15 men left with Yates now.

Yates accelerates again!

25 seconds to Rodríguez, who has a kilometre left to go to the top.

Evenepoel and Gaudu are detached from the lead group.

They're back on now, though, as the road dips down briefly.

Dani Martínez ups the pace as he heads to the front of the group.

And now Yates goes again.

Yates, Alaphilippe, Vingegaard, Vlasov, Mas, Roglic, Soler, Latour, Evenepoel, Gaudu, Bilbao, Dani Martínez all up there.

Up front, Rodríguez makes his way through a packed crowd to the top. Another six points for him and the KOM lead.

Yates leads Vingegaard and Mas over the top.

Bilbao pushes on shortly after the start of the descent as the pace eased with Yates stopping his push.

22km to go

15 seconds for Rodríguez up front.

Bilbao continues to lead the main group.

Around 12-13 left in that GC group.

Rigoberto Uran chases behind along with Steff Cras and Marc Soler.

Evenepoel pushes on at the front now. The Uran group has made the catch at the rear.

Uran, Cras, Soler, Ion Izagirre got back on. 14 men in the group.

17km to go

Rodríguez is caught by the group.

Michael Woods (Israel-Premier Tech), Emanuel Buchmann, and Sergio Higuita (both Bora-Hansgrohe) the main GC contenders that aren't in this group.

Evenepoel has another go but there's no way to make any separation on the way down into the valley.

A decent, not great, level of co-operation in this lead group at the moment. The next group on the road is reportedly a minute down.

Kuss, Buchmann, Gorka Izagirre among that second group.

11km to go

A few riders putting in small moves here and there but nothing going.

Evenepoel makes another push but Vlasov shuts it down.

Another small hill to come – Lezama (0.5km at 9.8 per cent) is 5.5km from the line.

Numerous riders rolling through at the front of the group, even if they're not exactly breaking their necks to push the group on in terms of pace.

The group approach that last small climb. Can anything stick there?

Bilbao, Mas, Martínez up front.

Evenepoel moves up.

Rodríguez drops off the rear of the group after his long spell in the break.

5.5km to go

Bilbao pushes on up that climb as they hit the steeper slopes.

Vingegaard and Mas follow him.

Mas now goes.

Soler, Cras, Uran at the back.

Mas leads over the top. No gap. Bilbao, VIngegaard, Alaphilippe follow. The rest of the group just behind.

Dropped riders coming back now. Soler a bit further back. Only Rodríguez is gone.

4km to go

All for the finish now, unless anyone can make a late move stick.

3km to go

Evenepoel and Alaphilippe speak about the finish. "Let's go before the corner" was snippet of what they said.

More attacks at the front, including Vlasov. Nothing doing though.

1.5km to go

Evenepoel takes it up at the front.

1km to go

Final kilometre now and Evenpoel leads Alaphilippe at the front.

A high pace from the Belgian here.

Yates has a mechanical!

A puncture, I think.

Evenepoel leads out Alaphilippe

The Frenchman jumps!

He goes head-to-head with Pello Bilbao in the closing metres, an uphill kick.

Bilbao wins! 

The Basque rider just edged it at the line.

Half a wheel length. Vlasov in third ahead of Gaudu and Mas.

Bilbao celebrates after beating Alaphilippe to the line.

Here's the top 10 today...

1 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Bahrain Victorious 04:35:24
2 Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) QuickStep-AlphaVinyl
3 Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
5 Enric Mas (Spa) Movistar
6 Pierre Latour (Fra) TotalEnergies
7 Primoz Roglic (Slo) Jumbo-Visma
8 Ion Izagirre (Spa) Cofidis
9 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Jumbo-Visma
10 Rigoberto Uran (Col) EF Education-EasyPost

Marc Soler rolled in at 33 seconds down, while Yates finished over a minute down. The Briton won't be penalised though as his puncture came inside the final 3km.

The charge for the finish line.

Check out our stage report here

A look back at that sprint finish...

Bilbao celebrates his win on the podium.

Primož Roglič remains in the race lead.

Julian Alaphilippe is the points leader.

Cristian Rodríguez takes over the KOM lead after his breakaway exploits.

Remco Evenepoel remains best young rider.