Almeida fourth with aggressive display on Itzulia Basque Country stage 3

On the first day of racing in the mountains at Itzulia Basque Country, UAE Team Emirates-XRG went on the front foot through stage 3, with João Almeida finishing fourth to sit third overall. The Portuguese rider made an audacious attack with just 5km to ride, but after being caught on the descent by Alex Aranburu (Cofidis), the Spanish national champion was able to take the day’s honours.

Capitalising when Almeida ran wide at a roundabout, Aranburu ventured on alone and crossed the line with a small gap to his chasers, taking the stage victory. With Almeida showing his strength in the finale and sitting just four seconds away from the race lead, UAE Team Emirates-XRG made a positive step forward on a chaotic day of racing.

From the gun, there was no let up for the peloton, with attacks flying left, right and centre. For UAE Team Emirates-XRG, such a predicament was preferable, with the Emirati squad packing a squad full of climbing talent. One by one, the team took the stage by the scruff of its neck and went on the attack.

First up was the experienced Marc Soler, who laid down a marker by taking third place in the day’s first KOM sprint, before Isaac del Toro grabbed the baton with 77km to ride. The young Mexican made a pair of attacks as the Mandubia climb reared into view, and as the peloton began its assault of the category two test, it was teammate Brandon McNulty who produced an acceleration of his own.

Taking Harold Tejada (XDS Astana) along for the ride, McNulty and his Colombian companion crested the climb together, before being joined by Almeida on the descent, along with Mattias Skjelmose (Lidl-Trek), Nelson Oliveira and Enric Mas (both Movistar). Using his nous to bridge across to his teammate up the road, Almeida’s presence sent alarm bells ringing in the peloton behind, and forced Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe’s Florian Lipowitz into a frantic chase.

The German sat one place behind Almeida in the general classification at the beginning of the day, and could not allow this six-man group to go clear.

With the race brought back together under the steam of Lipowitz, McNulty immediately dropped the hammer at the front of the bunch, stretching the peloton into one long line of around 30 exhausted competitors. This was to be a day of attrition, as determined by UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

At the 56.2km to go marker, Soler returned to the fore and took a flyer off the front of the peloton. His attack drew responses from Clément Berthet (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale) and Rudy Molard (Groupama-FDJ), with the three riders quickly establishing a gap of over a minute ahead of the peloton. Soler’s presence up front allowed Almeida, McNulty and Del Toro to sit in the wheels as Visma-Lease a Bike and Soudal Quick-Step traded turns at the front heading into the penultimate climb.

Looking to apply pressure once more, Almeida drove the pace of the peloton up the penultimate climb and with 30km to go, only Berthet remained out front ahead of the bunch. Over the next 10km, the race became fractured as race leader Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step) looked to anticipate the final climb by gaining an advantage. The German’s attack drew out a number of riders, including Del Toro.

With his teammates in the third group on the road, Del Toro smartly pipped Lipowitz to bonus seconds in an intermediate sprint, before returning to Almeida’s side as the final climb beckoned. As Del Toro and McNulty buried themselves on the front, this third group on the road returned to within sight of Schachmann’s collective.

Standing at 9.7% for 1.4km, the final climb saw the race’s strongest climbers trade belows, before Almeida made a daring attack just beyond the summit. Making the most of a false flat, the 26-year-old laid down the power and took a small advantage heading into the descent. With just a few kilometres of racing to go, all that was left was for the stage winner to be decided in Beasain.

Caught by Aranburu on the outskirts of town, Almeida’s hopes of winning the stage were curtailed by overcooking a left-hand bend, but the Portuguese remained composed to sprint to fourth place across the line.

The result sees Almeida slip to third overall, but on the same time as Lipowitz, some four seconds down on race leader Schachmann heading into Thursday’s stage 4.

Almeida: “It was a crazy day, I was feeling good. In the end, I did a little mistake on the corner but it is what it is.

“We wanted to do a hard day and all the team was really good, especially in the final to close the gap to the leader’s group. We did a really good job and we can be proud of ourselves for this. The guys are looking strong.”

Itzulia Basque Country stage 3 result:

1. Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) 3:45:21

2. Romain Grégoire (Groupama-FDJ) +3″

3. Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step) s.t

4. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t

Itzulia Basque Country general classification after stage 3:

1. Maximilian Schachmann (Soudal Quick-Step) 8:17:47

2. Florian Lipowitz (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe) +4″

3. João Almeida (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) s.t