Tour of the Basque Country 2016 – Stage 3 [FULL STAGE]

April 06, 2016

Vuelta al País Vasco 2016 – [Stage 3] – Vitoria-Gasteiz – Lesaka – 194,5 km

Edition 56 of the Tour of the Basque Country leaves Monday, April 4, to finish on Saturday, April 9. The race is a feast for climbers and puncheurs, as the Basque Country is teeming with steep hills and mountains. The 2016 edition will start in Etxebarria, while the last stage is an individual time trial in the mountains of Eibar.

Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) made a surprise attack inside the final kilometre to take the stage 3 victory at Pais Vasco. The Briton crossed the line just ahead of the sprint won by Simon Gerrans (Orica-GreenEdge) and Fabio Feline (Trek-Segafredo).

Mikel Landa (Team Sky) continues to lead the overall classification by one second ahead of Wilco Kelderman (LottoNL-Jumbo) and five seconds to Sergio Henao (Team Sky).

Stage 3 at Pais Vasco brought the peloton another tough day in the mountains. The 193.5km race began in Vitoria-Gasteiz with a relatively flat jaunt to the mid-point of the race.

The riders contested two back-to-back climbs over Alto de Uitzi (Cat 3) and Alto de Usagieta (Cat 2), before descending to the next series of three climbs over Alto de Aritxulegi (Cat 2), Alto de Agina (Cat 2) and finally Alto de la Piedad (Cat 3).

A decisive breakaway formed that included Blel Kadri (AG2R La Mondiale), Sam Oomen (Giant-Alpecin), Jose Goncalves (Caja Rural-Seguros RGA), Daniel Teklehaimanot (Dimension Data) and Stefan Denfil (IAM Cycling), who was in the day’s break the previous day.

The five men approached the last three climbs with a lead of one minute, but that continued to drop as they hit the first steep pitch on Aldo de Aritxulegi. Denfil pushed the pace slightly in pursuit of additional KOM points at the top, and only Oomen could follow.

Michael Albasini (Orica-GreenEdge), eight minutes down in GC, jumped out of the main field that cause some reaction from behind. Dario Cataldo (Astana), Dani Navarro (Cofidis) and Laurens De Plus (Etixx-QuickStep) chased and they connected with Albasini near the top of the climb, just 30 seconds off the back of Denfil and Oomen.

The pair of leaders hit the next climb over Aldo de Agina, 24km to go, and continued to hold 30 seconds over the four chasing men. Adam Yates (Orica-GreenEdge) and Pierre Rolland (Cannondale) bridged across to the four chasers, and they, in turn, caught up to Denfil and Oomen.

Team Sky were not willing to let that breakaway go with dangerous riders like Rolland and Yates riding up the road with 16km to go.

Over the final climb of the day, Alto de la Piedad, De Plus led the breakaway up the steeper slopes, while Team Sky pushed on behind to try and close down the 15-second gap.

Navarro attacked from the group near the top of the climb, as Yates chased with the other breakaway riders in tow. Navarro cleared his rivals and picked up an extra few seconds.

Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) was the first to attack out of the field followed by race leader Landa, Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Sammy Sanchez (BMC) and Rui Costa (Lampre).

After the descent, Navarro hit the flat section of pavement with 5km to go and a slim lead over chasers Rolland, Yates, De Plus and Cataldo, and 23 seconds ahead of the dwindled field.

Rolland attacked the breakaway with Yates, caught and passed Navarro with 2km to go, and the field directly behind them. The breakaway came back together and De Plus made his move right before the group behind made contact.

All together with 1km to go, Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data) made his winning attack and held off the field to take the victory.

Results :

1 Stephen Cummings (GBr) Dimension Data 5:01:57
2 Simon Gerrans (Aus) Orica-GreenEdge
3 Fabio Felline (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
4 Gianluca Brambilla (Ita) Etixx – Quick-Step
5 Giovanni Visconti (Ita) Movistar Team
6 Simon Clarke (Aus) Cannondale Pro Cycling
7 Tony Gallopin (Fra) Lotto Soudal
8 Pello Bilbao (Spa) Caja Rural-Seguros RGA
9 Sergei Chernetski (Rus) Team Katusha
10 Sergio Henao (Col) Team Sky

General Classification after Stage 3 :