Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) wins the third stage of the Itzulia Basque Country, from Zarautz to Beasain (156.6 km).

The various escape attempts in the first half of the race were unsuccessful and all the attackers were caught.

On the Gainza climb, Berthet extends his lead and gains about 1' on the main group reduced to about thirty men.

In the next flat stretch this group breaks up with Lipowitz, Schachmann and Del Toro who manage to gain an advantage with another 8 men.

On the Lazkaomendi climb, the best riders regrouped and remained in command with 10 riders without anyone being able to make the difference.

At the end of the descent Aranburu and Almeida manage to accumulate a small margin, but the latter makes a wrong turn: the Spaniard from Cofidis takes advantage and flies towards the solitary victory. The sprint for 2nd place is won by Gregoire ahead of Schachmann who thus defends the yellow jersey.

Update : The race jury disqualified Aranburu for an irregular cut of the course: victory thus goes to Gregoire; Almeida climbs onto the podium of the day.

New update: after several hours the jury has backtracked and given the victory back to the Spaniard.

ORDER OF ARRIVAL:

1 ARANBURU Alex Cofidis 3:45:21

2 GRÉGOIRE Romain Groupama - FDJ 0:03

3 SCHACHMANN Maximilian Soudal Quick-Step ,,

4 ALMEIDA João UAE Team Emirates - XRG ,,

5 MAS Enric Movistar Team ,,

6 SKJELMOSE Mattias Lidl - Trek ,,

7 KELDERMAN Wilco Team Visma | Lease a Bike,,

8 LIPOWITZ Florian Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe ,,

9 CRAS Steff Team TotalEnergies ,,

10 VAN WILDER Ilan Soudal Quick-Step ,,