The breakaway formed late and only formed a 16-man group halfway through the 153-kilometre stage to and from Basauri. At the back of the classification riders, the chase was stopped relatively early, so that the group was likely to get through quickly. Around 30 kilometres before the finish, Laurance and the Spaniard Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) broke away from the rest of the bunch. Here, too, it quickly became clear that the winner would be one of the duo.

On the finishing straight, which was up to twelve per cent steep, the favoured Laurance quickly showed his rival his limits. The 24-year-old celebrated his fourth victory of the season, having already won one stage of the Tour de la Provence and two of the Coppi e Bartali. "When Arrieta attacked at the end, I immediately had cramps," said Laurance in the winner's interview. "But it was all mentally controlled. When I saw the finish line, I turned into someone else. I knew it was only a few seconds of suffering for great joy."

Meanwhile, everything remained the same in the overall standings - apart from the fact that Isaac del Toro (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) had to retire from the race after a crash. The Mexican had been eighth. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) remains at the top, two minutes ahead of Primoz Roglic and Florian Lipowitz (both Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe), who, like Seixas and the rest of the top 10, held their own in the finale.

Tour of the Basque Country 2026 - Results of the 3rd stage

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This is how the 3rd stage of the 2026 Tour of the Basque Country went:

The battle for the breakaway group raged for half the stage. Time and again, the pros tried to break away from the peloton over the undulating profile of the first 75 kilometres. However, this was never sustainable. It took the most difficult climb of the day to Barrerilla (2nd category). There, however, a really large group of riders broke away, including some well-known riders. The 16 men in the leading group included Laurance, Tobias Halland Johannessen (Uno-X Mobility), Ilan Van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step), Guillaume Martin (Groupama - FDJ United) and Lorenzo Fortunato (XDS Astana Team).

The group, which harmonised well and had a good chance of winning the stage, gained up to two minutes after Cofidis, the driving force in the chase - Alex Aranburu and Ion Izagirre were two riders in the team who had a chance of winning the stage, had left.

In the second climb of the 2nd category 30 kilometres before the finish, the group attacked and halved in the process. Shortly afterwards in the 3rd category, Laurance and Arrieta broke away. The leading duo took more than a minute on the first chasers over the last ten kilometres, which only had two or three more tough climbs including the up to twelve per cent steep finishing straight. The peloton had given up the fight for the stage win and was three minutes behind.

Laurance and Arrieta played poker for a long time in the final, allowing the pursuers to close to within sight. However, they were no longer able to intervene in the battle for the stage win. Laurance played to his superior sprinting strength and secured the stage with aplomb, Tesfatsion then won the battle of the chasers. Further back, Lipowitz left nothing to chance in the steep finale, and Roglic also crossed the finish line at the same time as Seixas.