Pais Vasco: Rodriguez wins stage 3 in Zumarraga

Katusha's Joaquím Rodríguez won the third stage of the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco on Wednesday. The Spaniard won a three-man sprint to the line ahead of Sergio Henao (Team Sky) and Nairo Quintana (Movistar).

"This win is so important to me as it has been more than a year since I won," Rodriguez said. "I’ve always had the good legs but I’ve had so much bad luck. I started to be afraid that the bad dream would never end. This is a new beginning for me. Thank you Team Katusha for the support during the day."

The three riders broke away from the main field on the steep slopes of the Antigua, with three kilometres to go, and descended together into the finishing area on the streets of Zumarraga. Henao started the sprint but was overtaken by Rodriguez at the line, while Quintana rolled across in third.

Henao is now leading the overall classification ahead of, but with the same time as, Rodriguez and Quintana. The race heads into the fourth stage on Thursday, a 162.2km race from Zumarraga to Arrate.

How it unfolded

The third stage of Pais Vasco was a 170.7km from Vitoria-Gasteiz to Zumarraga with climbs over the Azazeta (cat 2), Iturrieta (cat 1), Urbasa (cat 1), Urkilaga (cat 2), Gabiria (cat 3), Antigua (cat 3, twice), Atagoiti (cat 3) and the Antiguako (cat 2).

A breakaway of four riders set off with Hugh Carthy and Omar Fraile (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Lieuwe Westra (Astana) and Sander Armee (Lotto Soudal).

Fraile, who was also in the stage 1 breakaway, picked up enough points over the day’s ascents to re-claim the lead of the mountain competition (from his teammate Amets Txurruka). The four riders held a three-minute gap with 65km to go over the Urkilaga.

Although there aren’t really any flat stages in Pais Vasco, stage 3 was considered the first of the mountain stages and Movistar set the pace ahead of the main peloton to protect their GC leader Nairo Quintana.

Unfortunately for Cannondale-Garmin, Andrew Talansky crashed on an elevated median on the road on one of the mid-race descents and looked to be in a lot of pain. He slowly got back on the bike, and with the help of his teammate Nathan Brown, tried to work his way back into the field.

On the flatter sections during the final 40km, Movistar got some help from teams Katusha and Tinkoff-Saxo, while the breakaway held a two-minute lead.

The escapees made it to the top of the Gabiria still holding two minutes but after a long descent the next test was the narrow Antigua, which averaged 16 per cent at the top (with sections that were 22 per cent), which the peloton had to climb twice.

Westra attacked his breakaway companions on the first climb over the Antigua with 35km to go, while at the same time his teammates behind moved themselves to the front of the field to better position Michele Scarponi. Tinkoff riders also emerged on the steeper parts of the climb but Westra held onto a small lead over the 16 per cent (average) slope.

Crowds swarmed the top of the climb and as the main field reached the steeper sections, they struggled to get through, and several riders were forced to get off their bikes and run. The field split over the top but the front group swelled back up roughly 50 riders, which included many of the top GC riders. The second chase group on the road ended up several minutes back.

Westra’s gap dropped to just over a minute as Katusha moved back to the lead of the peloton with 19km to go on the flatter sections. Movistar regained control as the race headed into the penultimate climb over the Atagoiti.

On the Atagoiti, Westra’s time gap was down to 20 seconds as Movistar ramped up the pace toward the steeper parts with Quintana tucked in on his teammates’ wheels. Following the climb, as the terrain flattened out Lampre-Merida, Team Sky and Katusha also pushed toward the front of the field and led into the Antigua.

Team Sky and Movistar blew passed Westra at the base of the Antigua. Sky's Vasil Kiryienka made a move to gain a small gap but Katusha’s Rodriguez shot ahead with Scarponi, Quintana sitting in third wheel and world champion Michal Kwiatkowski (Etixx-QuickStep) in fourth position.

Quintana raced into the steep section first, with Kwiatkowski on his wheel, as he pushed through the crowds. Henao was the first to make a big attack and he was quickly marked by Rodriguez, and Quintana followed. They three crested the top together and started the descent with under three kilometres to go.

Rodriguez led down the descent followed by Henao and then Quintana. After a bit of jockeying for the front position, Rodriguez ended up in the lead again with 800 metres to go but Henao jumped through the final corner to start the three-up sprint with 150 metres to the finish line.

Rodriguez wound up his sprint and got around Henao at the line, while Quintana ended up in third.

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