UPDATE 2 | Alex Aranburu GIVEN BACK Itzulia Basque Country victory after being relegated

Stage 3 of Itzulia Basque Country was a thirlling day of racing, with hours of attacks, GC action, important splits and an unexpected solo win by none other than the Spanish national champion himself. Alex Aranburu took his first win in the Cofidis jersey. However, he was later disqualified because of a wrong move in the final kilometers, and Romain Grégoire has been given the victory.

The stage had a very fast start and a breakaway was never truly established. Plenty riders tried escaping the peloton but only one managed to do so successfully: Bruno Armirail. The Frenchman rode through the early climbs of the day but the peloton was always closeby, with attacks from the GC contenders also starting very early on.

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Max Schachmann, Santiago Buitrago and all the big figures were all involved with over 70 kilometers to go... A group led by Brandon McNulty and João Almeida made the difference on a descent but were later caught by the remnants of the peloton with Florian Lipowitz himself closing down the gap.

Shortly after Marc Soler, Rudy Molard and Clément Berthet attacked and created a gap of a minute to the peloton, but Berthet went solo with 37 kilometers to go in the toughest climb of the day. The peloton was again reduced to around 15 riders but grew later in the flat area. However there the action wouldn't calm down, as yellow jersey himself Max Schachmann attacked, and around 10 riders followed including Lipowitz and teammate Aleksandr Vlasov who pushed the pace the whole way.

The peloton closed the gap only at the base of the final climb after many kilometers of urgency. In the final climb then Berthet was caught as Lipowitz paced up the climb, with Max Schachmann sprinting to the summit. However right after the summit on a small false-flat area João Almeida attacked and got a gap over the field, being caught by Alex Aranburu on the descent - who then went solo with 2 kilometers to go as Almeida almost crashed in a roundabout.

Aranburu soared to a very meaningful victory in his home region, crossing the line by himself as Romain Grégoire and Max Schachmann sprinted to second and third in the small GC group that included both Lipowitz and Almeida who remain the main favourites for the overall classification.

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UPDATE

Alex Aranburu has been relegated from stage 3 after taking a roundabout in the final 2 kilometers on the wrong side. This was possible to see in the helicopter footage.

The Basque rider, as a consequence, has lost the stage win, which has been attributed to Romain Grégoire.

UPDATE 2

The race that just keeps on giving... Alex Aranburu is the official winner of stage 3 of the Itzulia Basque Country. The race organizers decided to give the Cofidis rider his victory back after it was concluded that it were the race organizers who have not followed the road book indications as they should've.

Race organizers have provided the following statement:

"Following the initial images received, the decision was made to disqualify rider number 51 for “Deviation from the race route resulting in an advantage,” as the footage appeared to show the rider taking the roundabout in a way that deviated from the signposted course.

However, after receiving and reviewing various pieces of evidence, including Veloviewer data, the route book, and information provided by the team, it has been confirmed that all available information indicated that the roundabout in question was to be taken in the manner chosen by the Cofidis rider.

According to article 1.2.064 of the UCI regulations, “Riders must study the route in advance.” In this case, the rider correctly followed the planned course. Furthermore, the advantage gained by the rider after exiting the roundabout continued to increase all the way to the finish line. The organizer has also been consulted and confirmed that there was an error in the signage at that roundabout.

Therefore, the College of Commissaires has decided to overturn its initial decision and validate the rider’s passage across the finish line."

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