Itzulia Basque Country

Max Schachmann made sure of sporting the yellow jersey also Thursday after one of the hardest and most intense days of racing seen this season, the relentless journey from the coastal town of Zarautz to Beasain. The route, peppered with seven classified climbs and numerous others short but steep hills, came with the promise of numerous attacks and even some changes in the general classification, and the attacks came in waves as soon as the flag was dropped.

Soudal Quick-Step did a superb job in the first one hundred kilometers of the day to keep the breakaway in check and shut down a dangerous move that formed after the original leaders were brought back, but soon afterwards the race exploded, with some help from the stinging 20% gradients that whittled down the bunch to just 30 riders, including Max and his Soudal Quick-Step teammates Ilan Van Wilder and Mauri Vansevenant.

The insanely hard course, with so many ascents tacked into just 147 kilometers, made the last 40 kilometers of the stage impossible to control, and Schachmann tried to take advantage of this. In the valley just before the intermediate sprint, the yellow jersey accelerated from the favourites group and forced what turned out to be a major selection, only a dozen riders being capable of joining him. By the time they reached Lazkaomendi, the 1.4km final climb of the day which averaged 9.4%, the group had a 30-second advantage, and Max paced his effort smartly before increasing the tempo on those punishing ramps as he tried to open some gaps.

On the descent, some of those dropped managed to come back, and everything pointed to a small sprint, but not far from the finish Alex Aranburu (Cofidis) attacked and took the victory, a few seconds ahead of the group from where Soudal Quick-Step’s 31-year-old German sprinted to take third and snatch valuable bonifications which helped him increase his buffer in the general classification.

“Today it was crazy out there, it felt like we were on the final stage and everybody was just leaving everything on the road. We had full gas racing from start to finish and at one point I suffered due to the heat, but I got two bottles of cold water from the team car and recovered a bit. In the valley before the last ascent, I went for it and made a selection. I felt good on the final climb and in the final, I still had enough to sprint and keep yellow. It was a hard day, but I am satisfied with how things went”, said Max, who is joined in the top five by Ilan Van Wilder.

Photo credit: ©Tim De Waele / Getty Images