After the short opening time trial and the relatively flat second stage, the third day in the Basque Country was all about climbing. The peloton had to tackle seven categorized climbs. The stage was characterized by many attack attempts. Team Visma | Lease a Bike was also active during the day. Sepp Kuss made several efforts in the opening phase of the stage, but the American did not really break away from the peloton.

After the first passage of the finish place, Beasain, about forty kilometres from the finish, the race got even more exciting. After the leaders were caught, it was the turn of the favorites on the final climb Lazkaomendi. Alex Aranburu slipped away and crossed the finish line first. The Spaniard thought he had won the stage, but he was dropped in the day's results due to a wrong passage of a roundabout in the finale. As a result, the victory went to Romain Grégoire. Wilco Kelderman eventually finished sixth in the same group as the Frenchman. Update: hours after the race, this decision was reversed after a protest and Aranburu was declared the winner, and thus Kelderman finished seventh.

“It was a very intense day with hard racing early on”, Kelderman says afterwards. “In the beginning I didn't feel super, but I got through it pretty well. As a team, we were actually in control the entire day and we were constantly riding well up front. I got a flat tire on the penultimate climb, which meant I had to waste quite a bit of energy to get back.”

“At the end I tried to sprint for the win, but unfortunately that didn't work out. Nevertheless, I have a very good feeling about today”, the rider of Team Visma | Lease a Bike concludes. Kelderman moves up to sixth place in the general classification due to his good performance. Tomorrow there is another tough stage full of climbs on the program.