Tour of the Basque Country 2019 – Stage 3 [LAST 25 KM]

April 10, 2019

Tour of the Basque Country 2019 – Stage 3 – Sarriguren – Estibaliz : 191,4 km

The Tour of the Basque Country (Spanish: Vuelta al País Vasco, Basque: Euskal Herriko Itzulia) is an annual cycling stage race held in the Spanish Basque Country in April. It is one of 37 races that make up the UCI World Tour calendar. As the Basque Country is a mountainous area, there are few flat stages, and thus the event favors those who are strong climbers. Most ascents in the Tour are not particularly high by professional cycling standards, but are often quite steep.

Maximilian Schachmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) claimed a second stage victory and added to his overall lead in the Tour of the Basque Country on stage 3, sprinting up the final climb in Estibaliz to top Diego Ulissi (UAE Team Emirates) and Enrico Battaglin (Katusha-Alpecin).

A crash with 6km to go took down a large portion of the front of the peloton, including green jersey holder, stage 2 winner and second-placed overall Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-Quickstep) and third-placed Michal Kwiatkowski (Team Sky). As a result, Schachmann’s lead ballooned to 33 seconds over Ion Izagirre (Astana), with teammate Patrick Konrad now third on the same time.

Now with more comfortable buffer in the rankings, Schachmann thanked his team but acknowledged that there are still some difficult stages to come.

“I don’t know what to say. I have to say thank you to my team. I knew I didn’t come to the team as a big star but I get 150 per cent support, as you saw in the finale. I could just trust them and I had the legs.

“I haven’t had yellow many times but I think it’s special to win in yellow,” Schachmann said. When asked whether or not he can win the overall, he replied, “I don’t know. I’m surprised myself. We have two super hard stages coming up. I hope my battery is still full enough those two days.”

Stage 3 of the Tour of the Basque Country took riders 191.4km from Sarriguren to Estibaliz over some lumpy terrain, with the category 2 ascent of Goni coming just 26km into the day.

The tough start was a perfect launching pad for a breakaway, and 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) duly obliged, pulling out a gap of several minutes on the peloton, led by Bora-Hansgrohe for race leader Maximilian Schachmann.

The early part of the stage also saw a number of crashes, with Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) and Steve Cummings (Dimension Data) abandoning.

The category 3 Opakua climb with 60km to go spelled the end of Fernandes’ time in the move as the peloton began eating into the escapees’ advantage, bringing the gap to 1:30 by the top, where Bernard swept up the points but was unable to wrest the polka dot jersey from Bravo’s shoulders.

The long undulating descent and some haggling in the peloton kept the breakaway’s gap over a minute for the next 40km before the peloton came to life. Riding a tailwind and eyeing a punchy uphill finale for Alaphilippe, the Deceuninck-Quickstep team pulled the gap below 40 seconds with 17km to go, and the hopes of the seven leaders staying away began to look bleak.

The leaders weren’t about to give up so easily, and worked together to hold their lead, distancing Sessler, Bernard and Bravo as they fought against the inevitable. A big crash disrupted the chase with 6km remaining, with Alaphilippe out of the race and Enric Mas caught out outside the protected 3km mark.

Mitchelton-Scott took over the pace making with Movistar to finally reel in the escapees with 4km to go as Deceuninck-Quickstep came together to limit Mas’ losses. Schachmann was lucky to miss the chaos and positioned himself well in the final metres and used a powerful sprint to take out the stage win and add to his overall lead.

Results :
1 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 4:47:57
2 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates
3 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin
4 Marc Hirschi (Swi) Team Sunweb
5 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team
6 Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
7 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott
8 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo
9 Carlos Julian Quintero Noreña (Col) Manzana Postobon
10 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida
11 Aldemar Reyes Ortega (Col) Manzana Postobon
12 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team
13 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma
14 Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri) Team Dimension Data
15 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe
16 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
17 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin
18 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
19 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
20 Carlos Verona (Spa) Movistar Team
21 Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
22 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates
23 Jesús Ezquerra (Spa) Burgos-BH
24 Sergio Henao (Col) UAE Team Emirates
25 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team
26 Jesús Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
27 Rubén Fernández (Spa) Movistar Team
28 Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
29 Óscar Rodríguez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
30 Diego Rubio Hernandez (Spa) Burgos-BH
31 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott
32 Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias
33 Ricardo Vilela (Por) Burgos-BH
34 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team
35 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale
36 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team
37 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
38 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
39 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky
40 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team
41 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
42 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:09
43 Luis Ángel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
44 Bernardo Albeiro Suaza Arango (Col) Manzana Postobon
45 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb
46 Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC Team
47 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:14
48 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
49 David de la Cruz (Spa) Team Sky 0:00:16
50 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott
51 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott
52 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:00:19
53 Nicolas Saenz Ballesteros (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:00:20
54 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team
55 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team
56 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:00:25
57 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team
58 Daniel Martínez (Col) EF Education First
59 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
60 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida
61 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
62 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team
63 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
64 Jhonjan Orlando García (Col) Manzana Postobon
65 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ
66 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin
67 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin
68 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team
69 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin 0:00:31
70 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data 0:00:32
71 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data
72 Yecid Arturo Sierra Sanchez (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:00:45
73 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:00:48
74 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First 0:00:51
75 Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Dimension Data 0:00:56
76 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team 0:00:58
77 David Gonzalez Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:01:00
78 Tadej Pogaar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates
79 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale
80 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott
81 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma
82 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
83 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team 0:01:02
85 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 0:01:06
86 Hugh John Carthy (GBr) EF Education First
106 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:33
108 Jay Mc Carthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe
109 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:01:43

General Classification after Stage 3 :
1 Maximilian Schachmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 8:34:31
2 Ion Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:33
3 Patrick Konrad (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
4 Daniel Martínez (Col) EF Education First 0:00:48
5 Daniel Martin (Irl) UAE Team Emirates 0:00:49
6 Emanuel Buchmann (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:00:51
7 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:00:54
8 Dylan Teuns (Bel) Bahrain-Merida 0:01:11
9 Mikel Landa (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:16
10 Sam Oomen (Ned) Team Sunweb
11 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana Pro Team 0:01:17
12 Mikel Nieve (Spa) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:19
13 George Bennett (NZl) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:01:20
14 Amanuel Gebreigzabhier (Eri) Team Dimension Data 0:01:22
15 Sergio Henao (Col) UAE Team Emirates
16 Marc Hirschi (Swi) Team Sunweb 0:01:30
17 Victor De La Parte (Spa) CCC Team
18 Bjorg Lambrecht (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:01:37
19 Diego Ulissi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:40
20 Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott 0:01:41
21 Rubén Fernández (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:44
22 Carlos Verona (Spa) Movistar Team 0:01:46
23 Valentin Madouas (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:49
24 Carlos Julian Quintero Noreña (Col) Manzana Postobon
25 David Gaudu (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:51
26 Tadej Pogaar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:57
27 Anthony Perez (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
28 Hugh John Carthy (GBr) EF Education First 0:01:59
29 Lawson Craddock (USA) EF Education First 0:02:02
30 Jonathan Lastra Martinez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
31 Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) CCC Team 0:02:08
32 Winner Anacona (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:14
33 Rudy Molard (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:02:19
34 Enric Mas (Spa) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:02:21
35 Jai Hindley (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:02:22
36 Carlos Betancur (Col) Movistar Team 0:02:26
37 Diego Rosa (Ita) Team Sky 0:02:32
38 José Rojas (Spa) Movistar Team 0:02:36
39 Óscar Rodríguez (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:02:37
40 Simon Clarke (Aus) EF Education First 0:03:01
41 David de la Cruz (Spa) Team Sky 0:03:03
42 Peter Stetina (USA) Trek-Segafredo 0:03:04
43 Aldemar Reyes Ortega (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:03:09
44 Dmitrii Strakhov (Rus) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:11
45 Ruben Guerreiro (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:03:20
46 Nicola Conci (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
47 Omar Fraile (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:03:38
48 Luis León Sánchez (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:03:40
49 Mikkel Honoré (Den) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:03:49
50 Antonio Pedrero (Spa) Movistar Team 0:03:50
51 Darwin Atapuma (Col) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
52 Lucas Hamilton (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:03:58
53 Pieter Serry (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:04:01
54 Jay Mc Carthy (Aus) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:04:14
55 Danilo Wyss (Swi) Dimension Data 0:04:15
56 Grega Bole (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:04:32
57 Gorka Izagirre Insausti (Spa) Astana Pro Team 0:04:41
58 Alexey Lutsenko (Kaz) Astana Pro Team 0:04:52
59 Léo Vincent (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:04:56
60 Tsgabu Grmay (Eth) Mitchelton-Scott 0:05:33
61 Alexander Aranburu Deba (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:06:10
62 Geraint Thomas (GBr) Team Sky 0:06:38
63 Nathan Brown (USA) EF Education First 0:07:49
64 Bert-Jan Lindeman (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:08:25
65 Petr Vakoc (Cze) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:08:41
66 Tomasz Marczynski (Pol) Lotto Soudal 0:08:45
67 Jonas Vingegaard (Den) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:09:01
68 Jelle Vanendert (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:09:20
69 Maxime Monfort (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:09:32
70 Nicolas Roche (Irl) Team Sunweb 0:10:03
71 Jonas Koch (Ger) CCC Team 0:11:05
72 Fernando Barceló (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country – Murias 0:12:05
73 Janse Van Rensburg (RSA) Team Dimension Data 0:12:19
74 Rémi Cavagna (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:12:49
75 Nicholas Schultz (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:13:22
76 Damien Howson (Aus) Mitchelton-Scott 0:14:09
77 Pawel Poljanski (Pol) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:14:10
78 José Gonçalves (Por) Katusha-Alpecin 0:14:12
79 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo 0:14:18
80 Christopher Hamilton (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:14:19
81 Gari Bravo (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country – Murias 0:14:26
82 Larry Warbasse (USA) AG2R La Mondiale 0:14:34
83 Ricardo Vilela (Por) Burgos-BH 0:14:42
84 Serge Pauwels (Bel) CCC Team 0:14:44
85 Jhonjan Orlando García (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:14:48
86 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 0:14:49
87 Julen Amezqueta Moreno (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:14:50
88 Romain Seigle (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:14:51
89 Jesús Herrada (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Crédits 0:14:56
90 Enrico Battaglin (Ita) Katusha-Alpecin 0:15:00
91 Amaro Antunes (Por) CCC Team 0:15:01
92 Luis Ángel Mate (Spa) Cofidis, Solutions Crédits
93 Tom-Jelte Slagter (Ned) Dimension Data 0:15:10
94 Daniel Navarro Garcia (Spa) Katusha-Alpecin 0:15:13
95 Michael Albasini (Swi) Mitchelton-Scott 0:15:23
96 Enrique Sanz Unzue (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:15:24
97 Bernardo Albeiro Suaza Arango (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:15:29
98 Sander Armee (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:15:33
99 Neilson Powless (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:15:39
100 Willem Jakobus Smit (RSA) Katusha-Alpecin 0:15:53
101 Nicolas Saenz Ballesteros (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:16:03
102 Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:16:05
103 Clément Chevrier (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:16:18
104 Jesper Hansen (Den) Cofidis, Solutions Credits
105 Jon Aberasturi Izaga (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:16:21
106 David Gonzalez Lopez (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:16:46
107 Bruno Armirail (Fra) Groupama-FDJ 0:16:55
108 Jesús Ezquerra (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:16:57
109 Markel Irizar (Spa) Trek-Segafredo
110 Diego Rubio Hernandez (Spa) Burgos-BH 0:16:58
111 Luka Pibernik (Slo) Bahrain-Merida 0:16:59
112 Florian Stork (Ger) Team Sunweb 0:17:12
113 Mikel Bizkarra Etxegibel (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:17:16
114 Sean Bennett (USA) EF Education First 0:17:22
115 Nicholas Dlamini (RSA) Dimension Data 0:17:34
116 Michael Storer (Aus) Team Sunweb 0:17:40
117 Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-QuickStep 0:17:41
118 Tosh Van Der Sande (Bel) Lotto Soudal 0:17:48
119 Yecid Arturo Sierra Sanchez (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:17:57
120 Stephen Williams (GBr) Bahrain-Merida 0:18:07
121 Michal Golas (Pol) Team Sky 0:18:18
122 Manuele Mori (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:18:21
123 Edward Ravasi (Ita) UAE Team Emirates 0:18:28
124 Toms Skujins (Lat) Trek-Segafredo 0:18:29
125 Ben King (USA) Dimension Data 0:18:30
126 Gregor Mülberger (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:18:45
127 Jetse Bol (Ned) Burgos-BH 0:18:53
128 Mikel Iturria Segurola (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:19:06
129 Cesare Benedetti (Ita) Bora-Hansgrohe 0:19:16
130 Daniel Alexander Jaramillo Diez (Col) Manzana Postobon 0:19:19
131 Julien Bernard (Fra) Trek-Segafredo 0:19:22
132 Cristian Rodriguez Martin (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:19:29
133 Mathias Frank (Swi) AG2R La Mondiale 0:20:03
134 Tony Martin (Ger) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:20:06
135 Hubert Dupont (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:20:34
136 Alex Howes (USA) EF Education First 0:20:42
137 Riccardo Zoidl (Aut) CCC Team 0:20:46
138 Sepp Kuss (USA) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:21:09
139 Meiyin Wang (Chn) Bahrain-Merida 0:21:10
140 Loic Chetout (Fra) Cofidis, Solutions Credits 0:21:16
141 Rory Sutherland (Aus) UAE Team Emirates 0:21:30
142 Daan Olivier (Ned) Team Jumbo-Visma 0:21:35
143 Sergio Samitier Samitier (Spa) Euskadi Basque Country-Murias 0:22:09
144 Jon Irisarri Ricon (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA 0:24:01
145 Kenny Elissonde (Fra) Team Sky 0:24:41
146 Nicolas Sessler (Bra) Burgos-BH 0:24:44
147 Mikael Cherel (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 0:25:06