Local boy Aranburu sprints to Basque Country stage, Seixas extends lead

Local boy Alex Aranburu sprinted to victory in the fourth stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on Thursday as French youngster Paul Seixas stretched his overall lead.

Aranburu pipped Norwegian Tobias Halland Johannessen by four seconds with Italian Christian Scaroni eight seconds further behind after a 167.2km ride centred around Galdakao to the north-east of Bilbao.

Aranburu, 30, from nearby Ezkio-Itsaso, secured a third success on the race, after stage victories last year and in 2021.

“It’s always special to ride and win at home,” Aranburu said.

“In the final two kilometers there were full-on attacks and the legs were burning,” he added.

Seixas, considered a leading hope for French cycling, extended his lead in the yellow jersey by 20sec to 2min 19sec with Primoz Roglic in second plce and Florian Lipowitz in third 2min 28sec behind.

The 19-year-old finished eighth on the stage thanks to fine descent into Galdakao having dominated to the two opening days in northern Spain.

“I didn’t take all the risks I know of,” Seixas said.

“I trust myself right now, it’s quite psychological the descents. There are moments of the year where I feel better than others, at this race I feel really at ease,” he added.

American Brandon McNulty made an early break after the race left Galdakao but was caught with 36km to go.

With 10km left, Cofidis’ Aramburu splintered from the pack and was joined by Uno-X Mobility’s Johannessen as they returned into Galdakao.

But inside the final 500m they were almost caught by a small chasing pack before Aranuburu, wearing a Basque flag sticker on his helmet, having been born an hour away from the finish line, secured the victory with a powerful sprint.

Friday’s penultimate stage is a 176.2km ride starting and ending in Eibar in the most challenging stage of the race.

Earlier, coming up just short in a thrilling finale at Itzulia Basque Country, Igor Arrieta rode to second place on stage 3 for UAE Team Emirates-XRG.

On a punchy uphill finish in Basauri, the young Basque native lost out to the fast finisher Axel Laurance of Ineos Grenadiers. It was a brave and determined ride from the local, who spent most of the afternoon in the day’s breakaway.

With all eyes on the stage victory, it had been a big battle just to get into the select group of riders that made its way off the front, but it was a fight that Arrieta would not let go.

Once off the front, Arrieta worked diligently to extend the breakaway’s advantage. That gave the break an advantage of a minute and a half heading into the penultimate climb of the day, which was a healthy gap but one that meant the riders would need to work well to reach the finish before the peloton.

As such, on that penultimate climb of Bikotx Gane, Arrieta pressed ahead alongside seven other riders, including Laurance, the eventual stage winner. These riders continued their charge towards the finish, and their work increased the front group’s advantage over the peloton to two minutes on the last climb of the stage.

Using his local knowledge, Arrieta pressed on over the summit of that final climb, known as the Sarasola, and it was only Laurance that could follow the UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider’s wheel.

Together, they created a gap over their breakaway companions, and as they headed towards the final 20km, they worked in unison to ensure they would contest the stage victory between them.

Once in sight of the finish town, Arrieta looked to conserve his energy as best possible, in the knowledge that Laurance packed the strongest punch for the uphill finish to come.

Sensing this disadvantage, it was Arrieta who first opened up his kick for the line in Basauri, hoping to dislodge the Frenchman from his wheel.

Alas, it was not to be for Arrieta, who was passed by Laurance with only 75m of the day remaining.

Exhausted as he crossed the line, the Spaniard was sad to miss out on the victory, but his efforts were rewarded with the combativity prize and a spot on the day’s podium. It had been a fine outing for the man from Navarre.

Arrieta: “It was a really hard day. I knew that Axel was really the favourite for today’s stage, I tried my best in the breakaway and in the end, I was on the limit. I tried to pass him as much as possible, knowing that he is faster than me in the final, but it is what it is. I did my best so congratulations to him.

“When we go together [off the front], you need to still push as hard as possible, and then in the end I tried to save as much as I could to win the sprint against him. Unfortunately, he was just the strongest today.”

Meanwhile, Laurance said he “became someone else” to clinch the third stage of the Tour of the Basque Country on Wednesday after a late two-man battle with Arrieta.

Ineos Grenadiers’ Laurance finished two seconds ahead of local boy Arrieta with Eritrean Natnael Tesfatsion 14sec behind in third place, after a 152.8km loop starting and ending in Basauri.

“I was really optimistic for today, my legs felt good,” the 24-year-old said. “At the end, when he launched, I had cramp. It was just mentally, when I saw the finish line I became someone else. I knew it was only a few seconds of suffering for a big moment of joy.”

Overall leader Paul Seixas of France retained his advantage of 1min 59sec in the yellow jersey, having dominated the opening two stages.

Former Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana winner Primoz Roglic is second in the general classification and German Florian Lipowitz is third at 2min 08sec.

Riders departed from Basauri in unusually warm temperatures of more than 28C (82F). Isaac del Toro, one of Seixas’ major rivals for the yellow jersey, withdrew from the race after being involved in a crash with 74km to go.

Mexican Del Toro, a team-mate of Tadej Pogacar and Arrieta at UAE Team Emirates, suffered a torn thigh muscle and several abrasions.

His team said he would undergo further tests as a precaution.

With 90km to go, a 14-man breakaway group was formed. They grew their lead to 1min 20sec over the next 50km as the peloton moved towards the daunting climb up Bikotx-Gane.

Laurance and Arrieta made their move on that category two ascent and were neck-and-neck until the final seconds in the Bilbao suburbs.

Laurance then pipped 23-year-old Arrieta by powering away with less than 200m to the finish line.

Thursday’s fourth of six stages is another loop, with a 167.2km ride centred around Galdakao as the peloton briefly races along the coast to the north-east of Bilbao.

Agencies