The Belgian is second now after the longest stage of the week.

Wednesday was another nervous day at the Basque race, which was marred by two crashes: one coming with more than 30 kilometers to go, just as the peloton was reeling in the original breakaway, and another one that happened less than two kilometers from home, as the fight for positioning was intense at the front of the bunch.

Luckily, none of our riders were involved in these incidents, and concluded safely in the bunch the stage won by Quinten Hermans (Alpecin-Deceuninck) in Altsasu, a small town in Navarre. Before the fast men hit the spotlight, the general classification favourites had their own battle for the intermediate sprint bonifications. Excellently launched by his Soudal Quick-Step teammates, Remco Evenepoel took three seconds that bumped him into second overall, just seven seconds off the lead.

Thursday could bring more significant changes to the overall ranking, as with just 12 kilometers to go, the riders will tackle the hard Leintz-Gatzaga climb, whose 8.5% average gradient promises to create some gaps between the yellow jersey contenders.

 

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images

Race details

1 Quinten Hermans
Alpecin - Deceuninck
4:40:59
2 Edoardo Zambanini
Bahrain - Victorious
0:00
3 Alex Aranburu Deba
Movistar Team
0:00
4 Davide De Pretto
Team Jayco AlUla
0:00
5 Nikias Arndt
Bahrain - Victorious
0:00
6 Ethan Hayter
INEOS Grenadiers
0:00
7 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
0:00
8 Kévin Vauquelin
0:00
9 Vito Braet
Intermarché - Wanty
0:00
10 Valentin Retailleau
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
0:00
26 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
35 Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
48 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
59 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
64 Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
103 Pieter Serry
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
109 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
0:00
1 Primož Roglič
BORA - hansgrohe
8:36:01
2 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
0:07
3 Mattias Skjelmose Jensen
Lidl - Trek
0:10
4 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
0:14
5 Jonas Vingegaard Hansen
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
0:14
6 Kévin Vauquelin
0:16
7 Maximilian Schachmann
BORA - hansgrohe
0:16
8 Brandon McNulty
UAE Team Emirates
0:23
9 Bruno Armirail
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
0:24
10 Pello Bilbao López de Armentia
Bahrain - Victorious
0:25
18 Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step
0:39
32 Mikel Landa Meana
Soudal Quick-Step
0:55
64 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
1:23
86 Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step
1:49
98 James Knox
Soudal Quick-Step
2:09
119 Pieter Serry
Soudal Quick-Step
3:15
1 Quinten Hermans
Alpecin - Deceuninck
31 pt
2 Remco Evenepoel
Soudal Quick-Step
28 pt
3 Alex Aranburu Deba
Movistar Team
28 pt
4 Primož Roglič
BORA - hansgrohe
25 pt
5 Paul Lapeira
Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team
25 pt
6 Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE Team Emirates
22 pt
7 Jay Vine
UAE Team Emirates
20 pt
8 Samuele Battistella
Astana Qazaqstan Team
20 pt
9 Edoardo Zambanini
Bahrain - Victorious
20 pt
10 Kévin Vauquelin
18 pt
14 Louis Vervaeke
Soudal Quick-Step
16 pt
1 Louis Meintjes
Intermarché - Wanty
12 pt
2 Alan Jousseaume
TotalEnergies
11 pt
3 Eric Antonio Fagúndez Lima
Burgos - BH
11 pt
4 Jetse Bol
Burgos - BH
5 pt
5 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
4 pt
6 Davide Formolo
Movistar Team
4 pt
7 Tom Paquot
Intermarché - Wanty
4 pt
8 Primož Roglič
BORA - hansgrohe
3 pt
9 Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE Team Emirates
3 pt
10 Brandon Smith Rivera Vargas
INEOS Grenadiers
2 pt
1 Juan Ayuso Pesquera
UAE Team Emirates
8:36:15
2 Romain Grégoire
Groupama - FDJ
0:14
3 Isaac del Toro Romero
UAE Team Emirates
0:28
4 Gianmarco Garofoli
Astana Qazaqstan Team
0:40
5 Markel Beloki Fernandez
EF Education - EasyPost
0:57
6 Davide De Pretto
Team Jayco AlUla
1:08
7 Loe van Belle
Team Visma | Lease a Bike
1:08
8 William Junior Lecerf
Soudal Quick-Step
1:09
9 Iker Mintegi Claver
Euskaltel - Euskadi
1:24
10 Gil Gelders
Soudal Quick-Step
1:35
1 BORA - hansgrohe 25:48:49
2 UAE Team Emirates 0:23
3 Bahrain - Victorious 0:50
4 Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team 0:59
5 Soudal Quick-Step 1:03
6 Groupama - FDJ 1:06
7 Lidl - Trek 1:13
8 Movistar Team 1:14
9 INEOS Grenadiers 1:20
10 EF Education - EasyPost 1:53

Our road wolves

Related items

Itzulia Basque Country: Remco moves onto the podium

Itzulia Basque Country: Remco moves onto the podium

02/04/2024 - Race report
Link
Itzulia Basque Country - stage 3

Itzulia Basque Country - stage 3

03/04/2024 - Road
Link