As it happened: Jonas Vingegaard blasts to stage 3 win and lead in Itzulia Basque Country

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of stage 3 of the 2023 Itzulia Basque Country

After a brief neutralised section of 4.7 kilometres racing is about to get underway.

The stage has been lengthened slightly according to the official race website, to 165.7 kilometres.

Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe) won stage 2 and is the race leader.

And they're off. Almost immediately there's a break forming.

Almost immediately after the start a move went, containing:  Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Georg Zimmerman (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).

151 kilometres to go

And the trio have a minimal gap, just 14 seconds right now.

Caja Rural-Seguros RGA, who had a rider in the break on stages 1 and 2, don't forget, lead the chase.

This part is fairly flat, but here's a graphic of what awaits the riders at the finale of today's stage. Ouch.

143 kilometres to go

And the gap for our trio of attackers, Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Georg Zimmerman (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies), has risen to 30 seconds.

Ide Schelling of the Netherlands won the stage on Tuesday and is the race leader. For a full report of what happened, looked no further than:
Ide Schelling wins Itzulia Basque Country stage 2

The fast, twisting descent for stage 2 produced numerous complaints from riders and team management, as well as several riders crashing heavily. It's notable that Schelling himself, despite winning, slated the finish. For a full account, read on here: 

'Shameful', 'way too dangerous' – riders condemn Itzulia Basque Country finish

And after having dropped down to the coast from Errenteria and passing through the beautiful  city of San Sebastian, the peloton is now headed westward towards the Alto de Meaga, the first of six third category ascents on today's menu.

135 kilometres to go

In marked contrast to the fairly sedate starts to stages 1 and 2, today the peloton is moving on at a brisk pace, meaning the gap is sticking at around 30 seconds for now and all attempts to bridge across so far have failed.

And here's a shot of the peloton moving along the beach road in San Sebastian. Sunny skies for a third straight day, but nobody's complaining.

Meantime, here's a shot of the early break. Breaking news: Simon Geschke (Cofidis) still has a beard.

We are still rolling along the coast and Larry Warbasse (AG2R-Citroën) has a go at getting across to our three leaders.

Warbasse brief bid for glory went nowhere, but after the American is reeled in, now Remi Cavagna (Soudal-QuickStep) is trying to move across to the three ahead.

And after Cavagna tries to get across, another two riders are also on the move with the same idea: Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R-Citroen) and Thibault Guernalec (Arkea-Samsic).

117 kilometres to go

And Cavagna bridges across. So we have four riders ahead, Remi Cavagna (Soudal-QuickStep), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Georg Zimmerman (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).
Then two trying to make it to the four: Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R-Citroen) and Thibault Guernalec (Arkea-Samsic).
And then the bunch, just over a minute back.

Bora-Hansgrohe, perhaps logically given the way the break is gaining in strength and Zimmerman is now race leader on the road, with just a 10 second gap on GC to Schilling, start to take over patrolling duties at the front of the peloton.

It's been a fast start, by the way, with an average race speed of over 45kmh so far.

And as we curve inland from the coast and into the hills, the peloton has finally opted to give the break a break. The gap between bunch and race leaders has jumped to two minutes and counting.

110 kilometres to go

We are at the foot of the first of six classified climbs of the day, all third category. This one is the Meagas, the second the Andazarrate and here's the profile of both, courtesy of the organisation

And the two riders who were previously in no-mans land have seen their patience rewarded and joined the four ahead. Meaning we have six riders out front:  Nicolas Prodhomme (AG2R-Citroen), Thibault Guernalec (Arkea-Samsic), Remi Cavagna (Soudal-QuickStep), Simon Geschke (Cofidis), Georg Zimmerman (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) and Pierre Latour (TotalEnergies).

Latour leads over the top of the Meagas, followed by Zimmerman and Geschke.

97 kilometres to go

Jumbo-Visma and EF Education-Easy Post are both working now with race leader Ide Schilling's Bora-Hansgrohe to keep the break under control.

We're now on the lower slopes of the Andazarrate, the second of the six third cat. climbs of the day. 5.8 kilometres long, and with some kicks up of nine percent, but overall the average of 3.8 percent isn't too bad compared with the steepness of what's to come.

On the lower slopes of the Andazarrate, Groupama-FDJ have added some troops to the peloton's chase. Don't forget their main man for the GC, David Gaudu was third on stage 2 and lies third overall, just six seconds back.

91 kilometres to go

And the break is now pegged back to just under two minutes

It's worth noting that there may only be six third categorized climbs today, but the amount of vertical climbing peaks out at just over 3,200 metres. Not to be sniffed at. 

GPM Andazarrate (km 72.7): Cavagna leads Geschke and Zimmerman across the top.

It doesn't look likely that there's any change in the overall of the mountains classification coming up today, by the way. Jon Barrenetxea (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) racked up a lot of points in the first two stages, and currently has 20, ahead of Astana Qazaqstan's Javier Romo, with 13. 

The bunch is now facing a long drop down to the finish town of Villabona, for a first time, then tackled a long drawn-out loop to the south. 

80 kilometres to go

And the gap is 1:55

Crash in the peloton on the descent from the Andazarrate.

Unconfirmed reports that Ander Okamika and Jesus Ezquerra (Burgos-BH) as well as Cristian Scaroni (Astana-Qazaqstan) are among the fallen riders in that crash. And that the bunch has split in two as a result

74 kilometres to go

And after a fast descent off the Andazarrate, the gap between the front half of the bunch and the break has stabilized at 1:50

The race is now on at a short section of flat prior to the hot spot sprint at Amasa-Vilabona and then we're back into the hills, classified and unclassified.

Immediately after the sprint at Almasa-Villabona (that's also the finish town), we're back onto the climbs, specifically the Alkiza, which has a horrendously steep 22 percent pitch in its first part, prior to easing out considerably in its second segment.

Cavagna picks up maximum points in the intermediate sprint at Villabona, ahead of Zimmerman and Prodhomme

66 kilometres to go

And the gap is 1:44

Latour, Cavagna and Zimmerman lead on the horrendously steep Alkiza. Prodhomme is just behind.

Jumbo Visma show intent in the peloton on the brutally narrow, twisting early ramps of the Alkiza.

Latour, Cavagna and Zimmerman lead off the narrow descent and onto the easier second part of the Alkiza.

In marked contrast to the twisting, steep first part which was in dense woodland and on a narrow track, the second part is on wider, smoother roads where the visibility is much better. 

Two kilometres to the top and we now have three leaders from our daylong break, Zimmerman, Cavagna and Latour with 1:46 on the peloton.

Over the summit of the Alkiza, Latour, Cavagna and Zimmerman have an advantage of 1:34: Jumbo's Rohan Dennis lead the string behind.

This area of Euskadi, by the way, is the home of one of the Basque Country's greatest ever pros, Abraham Olano, the first ever World Time Trial and Road Race Champion.

A rare flat section and Cavagna, like the great time triallist he is, is putting in some hefty turns at the string of three at the front.

Prodhomme, Guernalec and Geschke the three stragglers from the break, have now been swept up by the bunch.

49 kilometres to go

And the gap for our three leaders,Latour, Cavagna and Zimmerman has shrunk to 1:36.

And here's a picture of Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe) in the leader's jersey from earlier on.

Bike change for David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ), third overall.

The bunch is now on the ascent of the Altzo climb, the fourth of six classified ascents and Cavagna and Zimmerman have dropped Latour.

Zimmerman heads over the top of the Altzo ahead of Cavagna. 

46 kilometres to go

Jayco-AIUIa's Lawson Craddock lends a hand to Jayco-Visma and the gap has dropped to 1:12

Jayco-AIUIa push on after the descent of Altzo. We've only got two more classified climbs to go, but after that there are no less than four 'walls' and culminating in that horrendously hard one, with a ramp of 26 percent, up to the finish.

Craddock eases back a little and Jumbo-Visma come to the fore again. If they wanted to make a statement of intent regarding Vingegaard's intentions, they aren't being quiet about it.

Meanwhile Cavagna and Zimmerman push on determinedly. 1:21 the gap, which is dropping but very slowly. A large chunk of the bunch which was dropped before take advantage of the near-truce in hostilities  and broad road to regain contact.

Next up on our interminable list of third categories is the Orendain, 2.8 kilometres at 7.3 percent. For the record if you're losing count, it's the fifth of six third cats. 

A big result from racing elsewhere in Europe today on some very different terrain:

Scheldeprijs Women: Lorena Wiebes wins for third time

Back in the Basque Country, meantime, we've less than two kilometres to the top of the Orendain, and Cavagna is giving it some welly on the front.

Meantime, Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers) has been dropped.

37 kilometres to go

The gap for the race leaders drops under a minute for the first time today as Dennis continues to drive away in the bunch.

Cavagna accelerates away briefly from Zimmerman, but it isn't working.

34 kilometres to go

Zimmerman leads Cavagna over the summit of the Orendain

As the peloton approaches the summit of the Orendain, EF Education-EasyPost and Groupama-FDJ make a notable acceleration in a bunch which is still some 100 strong.

After that EF Education-Easy Post push, on the descent the gap for Zimmerman and Cavagna is down to 15 seconds. It's all but over.

25.5 kilometres to go

As they dive back through some trees, across a bridge at the foot of the valley, then out of a village, Cavagna and Zimmerman finally throw in the towel. Bunch is together.

Second ascent of the Altzo climb, 1.7 kilometres at 4.8 percent.

Craddock leads again for Jayco-AIUAa and then an Intermarché-Circus-Wanty rider moves to the front.

Esteban Chaves (EF Education-EasyPost), Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) follow. Three riders on the front.

23 kilometres to go

Chaves, Mollema and Laurens Huys (Intermarché-Circus-Wanty) lead over the top of the Altzo, the last of the classified climbs.

Mollema, Chaves and Huys have opened up a small gap as they hit the final sections of flat prior to four 'walls'.

21.5 kilometres to go

And the three have a 10 second gap.

20 kilometres to go

And the gap for Mollema, Chaves and Huys is up to 20 seconds. This is starting to look dangerous.

The last four climbs of the day, none classified, are:
Km 154: Azibar, 1.5 kilometres at 9.7 percent average
Km 158: Zizurkil Cemetery 1 km at 10 percent.
Km 163: Aduna 0.8 kms at 8.8 percent

And last but not least, the Hika, 1.1 km at 9.4 percent to finish at km 165.

16 kilometres to go

15 seconds at the foot of the first of the final four climbs for the trio ahead.

Chaves pushes on a little from the trio. Jumbo-Visma keep the pace high behind.

Narrow, winding roads climbing upwards through the trees facing Chaves the stage leader, lots of fans on either side, and a sketchy descent ahead. Welcome to the Itzulia Basque Country

14.5 kilometres to go

Ion Izagirre makes a move, and Mikel Landa then comes over the top.

Landa powers through the crowds on each side of the road and his effort squeezes down the front peloton to 20 or 30 riders. But he's not going any further. Yet.

Chaves has held the gap over the top and is still ahead on the rollercoaster of a country lane that follows.. 19 seconds the gap now. Ide Schelling, race leader, is not in the front group chasing Chaves.

12 kilometres to go

A twisting descent through trees and the bunch is lined out. Thank goodness it's dry weather.

10 kilometres to go

Chaves powers on, heading for the next climb. 17 seconds the gap.

Jumbo-Visma's Sam Oomen leads the chase behind on the umpteenth narrow backroad, with the yellow-black cohort followed by Groupama-FDJ.

Chaves is in and out of the saddle, and is approaching the summit of the third last climb. All of these last four, for reasons best known to the organisation, are unclassified.

Nine kilometres to go

James Knox (Soudal-QuickStep) has a go, bursting out of the pack, and Juan Pedro López (Trek-Segafredo) is quickest to follow.

Chaves storms down the descent, still ahead a handful of seconds.

Seven kilometres to go

The race situation is Chaves leading Knox and López, the 2022 Giro d'Italia leader, with the bunch, or what's left of it, still behind. Time gaps not available on this twisting Basque toboggan of a finale.

Five kilometres to go

López and Knox catch Chaves 

Finally, a time gap again for the trio on the bunch: 38 seconds. If correct, at this point in the game, that's big.

López accelerates and Chavez is struggling.

Chaves fights his way back up to López and Knox. We're now heading towards the final climb.

2.8 kilometres to go

A very scant advantage for the three ahead as they blast along some backroads towards the final ascent of the day, the Hika. It's only a kilometre long, but it's a brute.

The gap between the three ahead and the Groupama-FDJ led bunch is around 10 seconds at most.

The top of the climb, don't forget, includes a lung-bursting ramp of 26 percent.

1.8 kilometres to go

Knox makes a quick dig away. 

Knox has a gap of 100 metres as he turns onto the climb.

Knox is alone as he goes under the final kilometre.

The pack is splintering as they close in on Chaves and Lopez

Knox is caught, Lopez accelerates again.

Lopez has a couple of bike lengths lead at most with Vingegaard in third place.

Vingegaard accleerates on one side of the road, and Higuita is tangled up in the barriers.

Vingegaard drives alone

And wins. Jonas Vingegaard gets it by a few metres.

Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) wins stage 3 of the 2023 Itzulia Basque Country.

Riders who were caught up in the finish crash barrier tangle when a rider moved sharply included Sergio Higuita (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost).

Second on the stage was Mikel Landa (Bahrain Victorious) with Enric Mas (Movistar) in third, both around two seconds back.

Ion Izagirre (Cofidis) was next across the line in fourth at 8 seconds, David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) fifth at the same time. Narrow gaps, but in a race often decided by the minimum, potentially very significant ones. 

Vingegaard is, it all but goes without saying, also the new race leader.

Some words from the new race leader, Jonas Vingegaard: "I'm very happy to take the win today, to pay the hard work that my teammates did today, it's one of my favourite races. Every climb was hard today,  and I have to thank my teammates a lot today, they worked their arses off and I'm very happy to take the win."
"I'll take it day by day for now but hopefully I can stay in the jersey and I'll fight everything I can every day. Even if I lose the jersey I'll keep fighting."

It's going to be very hard to decide exactly what effect the tangle caused on the race result when late attacker Juan Pedro López swayed across the side of the road a little in the finale and then Higuita and Carapaz were caught up. Vingegaard was already powering ahead when the incident happened.

And here's one of the first images of Vingegaard claiming a very important win for the Dane.

The link to our main report on today's stage is here:

Itzulia Basque Country: Jonas Vingegaard captures stage 3 uphill victory, takes race lead

And here is a photo of Vingegaard in the race leader's jersey, which he'll wear into stage 4 on Thursday

Alex Aranburu (Movistar Team) remains in control of the points classification, Jon Barrenetxea (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA) is on top of the mountains ranking, but there's been a change in the best young rider's ranking. Ide Schelling (Bora-Hansgrohe) is out of both the overall lead and the BYR classification, which is now headed by Mattias Skjelmose (Trek-Segafredo).

As the 2023 Itzulia Basque Country hits its half-way point, Vingegaard's first day in the leader's yellow jersey on stage 4 will see him face a 175 kilometre circuit stage starting and finishing in the Bilbao suburb of Santurtzi. The main challenge is a second category ascent of La Asturiana, peaking out at 15 kilometres from the finish.

This wasn't the only major racing today in Europe by a long chalk. You can read out Scheldeprijs men's report here:
Scheldeprijs: Jasper Philipsen seizes sprint victory over Welsford, Cavendish

and our Scheldeprijs women's report here:

Scheldeprijs Women: Lorena Wiebes wins for third time

Meantime check back here for our live report of stage 4 of Itzulia Basque Country on Thursday, where Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo-Visma) will defend a narrow lead against a host of other contenders.