Stage 3 is the first that is classified as hilly, but we have to wait one more day for a hilltop finish. That said, with a category 1 and a category 2 climb inside the final 30 kilometers, we should see a fair amount of splits. How selective this stage will be depends on how hard the riders want to make it - especially those among the puncheurs who are not great climbers will hope that it’s an easy ride.
The peloton has only allowed trios to get away on the previous stages, so we’ll see if these four end up with a chance to form the group of the day. Attempting to do so are Ludvigsson, Jallays, Johannessen and Kooistra.
The peloton was pretty relaxed so far and even lets another four riders join, namely De Tier, Vink, Blouwe and Pushpakumara. Further attacks are coming from the peloton, but those are being shut down now. That increases the pace, so we’ll have to see if this group can stay ahead.
The attacks stop eventually and the group settles in at the front. They enter the first climb of the day with 3 minutes on the peloton. Jallays has 20 mountain points from his attack on stage 1, by far the most in this group (only Blouwe collected 2 while chasing for Vanderbiest), but he’s at the very end of the group when Johannessen accelerates towards the first mountain sprint.
And Jallays doesn’t recover fast enough to add any more points to his tally. Instead, BWT duo Vink and Ludvigsson, perhaps the two best puncheurs in this group, collect 10 and 8 points, with 6, 4 and 2 going to Blouwe, De Tier and Johannessen, respectively.
Nothing of note happened during the next 70-odd kilometers, other than Johannessen winning the intermediate sprint ahead of Kooistra and Vink. A fairly diverse group of teams leads the peloton and pushes the gap to the front back down to under 2 minutes.
Interestingly, second overall McEvoy is contributing, leading us to believe that Trans Looney Tunes is going for either Bystrom or Calmejane - perhaps the latter, given the former’s breakaway adventures on stage 1.
At the intermediate sprint, neither Pushpakumara nor Ludvigsson could be bothered to sprint, and after being slightly distanced as a result, they could not be bothered to catch back up again. Both have teammates still ahead, but it’s a bit weird to give up on that numerical advantage so easily.
Jallays is a bit closer at the second mountain sprint of the day, but still can’t get any points. Vink takes his second one, moving up to 16 points now. KoM leader Hugentobler has 34, and there are still up to 32 to be had today.
In the leadup to the next KoM sprint, Johannessen and Kooistra can’t keep up with the others, not a big surprise. Vink once again leads the way …
… and he holds on just barely ahead of De Tier, increasing his points total to 22. If he wins the Cat 1 sprint, he’ll be the new leader. Jallays likely won’t get that chance as he’s being distanced now as well. Slightly surprising that Johannessen is still holding on, he’s punching above his weight here.
Not sure if that’s the best use of their energy, but the three also contend the intermediate sprint. Their gap to the peloton has been stable at around 2 minutes for a pretty long time now. That might be enough to carry them to the top of the upcoming climb in 10 kilometers, but it’s not a given.
Indeed, the wheels are turning slowly now at the front and they’re quickly within half a minute of the pack, with all others having been caught already. Yellow jersey Kump, enjoying the support of the locals written on the tarmac, is being kept close to the front by De Vos.
Hugentobler can rest easy as Vink is caught still 1,5 kilometers from the summit by Skjerping and Cepeda Hernandez. A valiant effort, maybe he can build on that tomorrow. His two companions are caught as well.
Skjerping collects 16 points ahead of Mudarra, no one wanted to attack here. Still 81 men in the peloton despite the pace, though.
A few riders fall behind shortly after, including this group with most notably Favilli, Seigle and breakaway riders De Tier and Johannessen.
That makes it 63 riders heading into the final climb together. 5,3 kilometers at 5,7%, followed by 10 kilometers of descending and flat roads towards the finish. Gjensidige and Volcanica - Fox continue to lead the group.
It is then not a surprise that Eiking is the first to attack with 3 kilometers to the top. Juul-Jensen has come to the front now.
Juul-Jensen joins Eiking, but they’re given hardly any leeway from their competitors. Bystrom, Paez, Barbero and Kump lead the way while more and more riders can’t keep up anymore.
Those riders falling behind include Skjerping after all his work, but also Tsatevich, McEvoy, McCormick, Umerbekov and perhaps most notably Hugentobler.
Even after Eiking was caught, Gjensidige keeps the pace high with Martin. Only 30 riders are now still in this group and it could quickly become even fewer. Yellow jersey Kump is now visibly struggling!
Kump hangs on but 7 more riders were pushed off the back, among them, rather shockingly, Boswell! He’s got a bit over 8 kilometers to close the 35 second gap to the front.
It doesn’t look like he’s going to get there! Especially now that Eiking accelerates again! 3,5 kilometers, Barbero moves to the front in an effort to chase, but it’s not a very forceful reaction.
Lots of things happening in these final couple of kilometers. First, Boswell can thank Battaglin that this group has almost made it back to the peloton.
In said peloton, Bystrom is now leading the chase, Calmejane, who’s apparently indeed the team’s leader, follows right behind him. Kump and Paez, the other two faster guys besides the Frenchman, are in the very last positions here, perhaps not with enough energy left to sprint. Meanwhile, Eiking has around 30 seconds as he nears the flamme rouge …
… which may be why Chaves feels compelled to launch a final attack with 1,7 kilometers to go. Budyak wants to go as well!
Chaves gets a small gap, Bystrom launches the sprint for the chasers. This is of course terrible news for the Boswell group, but they still have a chance to finish with the same time as the main group.
Eiking is really struggling now, but with 500 meters to go, he still has some 15 seconds on Chaves, who surely doesn’t have infinite energy left anymore either!
Look at how close this is! Chaves is back in the saddle now, still creeping closer …
But Eiking holds on! A perfectly timed attack gives him a stage win and 20 bonus seconds ahead of tomorrow, but no further time gap is ultimately given. Chaves is now trying to hold off Calmejane …
… but doesn’t quite make it. Calmejane is second, Chaves third ahead of Juul-Jensen, Martin and Aasvold, who make it 3 Gjensidige riders in the Top 6 today. Kump is not able to contend the sprint here but keeps his yellow jersey for another day. Eiking jumps to second overall, Calmejane is tied for third.
Boswell must’ve had a truly terrible day as almost everyone from his group sprints towards the backend of the main peloton while he can’t. But while his legs may have been bad, his fortunes are good: The organizers are very generous and give him the same time as today’s winner.
And not just him: This group around Hugentobler and Vink also gets the same time, and both of those remain in (or enter, in the latter case) the Top 10 thanks to the bonus seconds collected while in breakaways. The same is true for Brockhoff, who’s also in this group.
Euskal Bizikleta 
