Laurance wins from Basque breakaway

Axel Laurance continued his superb early season momentum with victory on stage three at Itzulia Basque Country. 

The Frenchman capped off a strong day in the breakaway with a well judged victory, besting Igor Arrieta (UAE Team Emirates - XRG) in a two-up uphill sprint into Basauri. 

Earlier Laurance had worked his way into a group of 16 riders, which gradually opened out a gap over the peloton across an undulating parcours. 

Bouncing back well from a crash on Tuesday, Laurance went clear with Arrieta following the descent off the Bikotz Gane climb. The pair were able to open out enough of a gap to stay away, despite some tactical games in the final kilometre. 

Victory gave Laurance his fourth win of 2026, and his first WorldTour stage win for the INEOS Grenadiers. 

Kevin Vauquelin finished at the head of the GC group as they crossed the line 1:04 back on his compatriot. Paul Seixas (Decathlon CMA CGM) retained the overall lead on the day.

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Axel Laurance: "It was pretty hard, I didn’t know what to expect with the crash I had yesterday, but in the end I did everything to recover as best as I could and I was really optimistic for today. I knew yesterday the legs were good. We didn’t know if it was a breakaway or bunch sprint, but I was ready for everything. In the end it was a good day for me. 

"Igor Arrieta was really strong. I know he’s a really good climber, and for sure I was suffering on the climb with 40km to go. But we did a good downhill. I knew it was hard for me, as I’m not used to this kind of really long effort, with 25 kilometres with only two guys. We had to push quite hard and I was struggling to recover, but I knew he was also not feeling good. In the end when he launched I had cramps straight away, but I did everything perfect and it was just mentally in the end. When I saw the finish line I became someone else. I knew it was only a few seconds of suffering for a really big enjoyment. 

"Tomorrow is going to be hard – I need to recover before that. But the guys look really strong in the team and we have multiple cards to play. It’s good for us. 

"[Four wins] is really special. Last year I knew I was strong but I never won. It started to be frustrating and you lose some confidence. This year I really restarted from zero. I knew that I didn’t lose anything last year and that I could be a winner again. I think I showed it again today, when I saw the finish line I have this killer instinct and I never lost it. It’s good to remember."