Tour Of The Basque Country 2014 - Stage 3

The third stage of the Tour Of The Basque Country took place yesterday, which was 194.5 kilometres from Urdazabi-Urdax to Victoria-Gasteiz. There were two category two climbs within the first fourty kilometres of racing, but it soon flattened out meaning a large bunch sprint was likely. This meant that Michael Matthews and Ben Swift would once again have their chance to take a win.

The general classification riders were saving their legs for Thursday's queen stage, so the sprinter's teams worked together to ensure they wouldn't be robbed of another chance at victory. Andy Schleck (Trek Factory Racing) was the first man to attempt to instigate a move, but it was brought back, before a lone man made a move.

Ruben Fernandez (Caja-Rural) broke clear of the peloton, and although he expected support from some other opportunists, none came, and so he carried on alone. The peloton gave him a large lead, sensing that they could bring a lone man back easily, and at one point they gave him eight minutes. His lead gradually fell as he tired, with the sprinter's teams gathering behind.

Team Sky and Movistar were particularly animated in the chase, until on the final climb of the day the general classification contenders came to the front of the peloton. They soon slipped back when they realised there were no attacks coming, before a hectic sprint ensued. There was no real orgnisation, but Simon Gerrans did a particularly good job leading out Michael Matthews.

Matthews was the man who took the win, infront of Kevin Reza of Europcar and an impressively fast Michal Kwiatkowski of Omega Pharma-Quickstep. Ben Swift of Sky finished fourth, and the general classification contenders finished safely in the peloton, with Contador still in the leader's jersey. Bart de Clercq of Lotto-Belisol was the most high profile abandon during the day.