Published on : 04/08/2026
The third stage of the Tour of the Basque Country went to the breakaway riders. Although the team was unable to make it into the winning breakaway, Ion Izagirre stayed in contact with the favorites and retains his seventh place in the general classification.
Around Basauri, the third stage of the Tour of the Basque Country went to the breakaway riders on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. Although the Cofidis team tried everything to be part of the winning group, success was not on their side. In the general classification, Ion Izagirre, safely tucked away in the yellow jersey group, retains his 7th place.
The reaction
Gorka Gerrikagoitia, sports director: "It was a tough stage with a difficult, hilly start and temperatures of 29 degrees. The race wasn’t easy to control. Today we set out with the goal of going for the win with Alex Aranburu. We wanted to keep the top teams like Ineos Grenadiers and UAE Team Emirates in check and not let them get into the breakaways.
A breakaway formed with 15 riders and two teams not represented. At the 50-kilometer mark, we had three riders dropped, and Buchmann crashed. So we only had Jan Maas to work with. We weren’t able to close the gap. We lacked the collective strength to close the gap, and the breakaway riders made it to the finish.
Ion is our best rider at the finish. He remains in seventh place overall. We have to keep going; there are still three stages left that are super tough, and we’ll see what we can do."